Morning Market Report

Markets were up about one percent yesterday. This movement appears to have come as a result of the better than expected weekly jobs report. That showed that new jobs claims dropped to 550,000, the lowest in about two months. There's some breaking economic data. This time it is import prices for the month of August. They rose by about 2%. So far, the market has shrugged off the news and markets are relatively unchanged. The University of Michigan consumer confidence index will come in about an hour and a half. I have no data on what the consensus for that number will be.

Oil is still trading in roughly the same range as yesterday. It's currently at $71.74 a barrel. Meanwhile, bonds continue a rally that is now lasting about two weeks. The ten year U.S. Treasury bond is now at 3.34%. That's the lowest that I remember it. It's at least six to eight weeks since it's been that low. It's come as equities have gained so that's new money pouring into bonds and not being transferred from equities.

Around the world, most indices were up. Some hit eleven month highs. In the Far East, the Hang Seng was up .44%, the NIKKEI in Japan was down .66%, and the Straits Time Index was down .04%. Yet, those two are the two major indices from Europe and the Far East that were down. The broader Chinese index was up 2.22%. In Europe, the FTSE in London was up .91%, the DAX in Germany was up .82%, and the Spanish Index was up 1.25%.

The Dollar looks weaker against most major indices. It's down by .09% against the Euro, it's down by .28% against the British Pound, and it's down by .88% against the Japanese Yen.

Finally, the CEO of Morgan Stanley, John Mack, is stepping down. He'll be replaced by John Gorman to Co President of Morgan Stanley.