Thursday September 1, 2016

(This is Brian Hamilton filling in for Mark Vickery while he is on vacation)

The futures markets indicated a positive start to Thursday’s trading session.  The highly anticipated U.S. jobless claims data came in below expectations; Claims rose by only 2,000 to 263,000 which was below the expected 265,000.  Further, tomorrow’s unemployment rate is now expected to drop to 4.8% from 4.9%.  On the negative side, this data only strengthens the Fed’s case to raise rates in their September meeting. 

On the international side, the U.K. manufacturing PMI unexpectedly rose to 53.3 (above 50 indicates expansion), way ahead of the expected 49.  This data helped most of the international markets to end their trading day in the positive. 

Around 10am we will be hearing more economic news; August ISM manufacturing data is expected to slightly decline from 52.6% in July to 52.3%.  Construction spending is forecasted to jump up from -0.6% in June to +0.6% in July.  Lastly, Motor vehicle sales are expected to decline from 17.8 million in July to 17.1 million in August. 

Overnight, oil prices sank on news that Russia's Energy Ministry stated that he saw no need for talks on capping oil production while oil prices are near $50. 

Brian Hamilton