Morning Market Report

The weekly first time jobless claims came out about an hour and a half ago and they disappointed some. The new number had 480,000 new jobless claims. That's higher than last week and higher than expected. Stocks have responded in kind. The Dow is pushing a triple digit close in the first hour of trading. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 are showing similar weakness. Meanwhile, a guage of economic activity was up for the eighth month in a row.

The Conference Board's gauge of future economic conditions rose in November, for its 8th straight monthly increase, boosted by improving financial conditions, employment and housing, the private research group said Thursday.

The improving housing market helped the Leading Economic Index rise for its 8th straight month.

The Leading Economic Index increased 0.9 percent to 104.9 after rising an unrevised 0.3 percent in October. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected it to increase 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, bonds are showing strength for the third day in a row. The ten year bond is down to 3.53%. It reached a multi month high of 3.63% earlier in the week. The yield spread between the two and ten year is down to 2.65%. That's down 10 basis points since it tested all time highs in the last week. The yield on the three month t bill continues to be .035%. That's steady and still positive.

Oil is down slightly this morning but continues its upward trend since touching below $70 a barrel. It's currently at $72.46 a barrel. Gold is down again. It's reached below $1120. It's currently at $1119.30 an ounce. That's down about a hundred dollars an ounce since it reached all time highs.

Markets were down nearly across the board in both the Far East and in Europe. Meanwhile, the dollar is showing strength this morning. The pattern is back, at least temporarily, with the inverse relationship between the dollar and domestic equity markets.