DOW – 3 = 16,801
SPX + 0.01 = 1946
NAS + 8 = 4430
10 YR YLD + .03 = 2.43%
OIL + .59 = 91.32
GOLD + 1.30 = 1215.30
SILV – .08 = 17.20
The Dow Industrial dropped about 130 points in early trading, but then recovered, mainly
In economic news:
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 287,000. Separate data showed small businesses hiring workers at the fastest pace in 8 months. The National Federation of Independent Business said its monthly survey of its members found they added an average of 0.24 workers per firm last month, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Tomorrow the government will report on non-farm payrolls for September; we’re looking for about 220,000 net new jobs and the unemployment rate to hold near 6.1%.
A report from the Commerce Department showed new orders for factory goods posted their biggest decline on record in August. Factory orders dropped 10.1%, following a 10.5% increase in July; the wild swings are attributed to orders for airplanes. Stripping out transportation orders, new orders were down a more modest 0.1%.
Since June, the European Central Bank has lowered the interest rate on bank deposits parked at the ECB to negative territory, a first for this central bank, and added new lending and private-asset purchase programs. Today, the ECB wrapped up a policy session and announced nothing new. They will wait and see if some of the stuff they’ve done in the past few months, will actually start to impact the Eurozone economy. They really can’t cut rates much lower, and there is only tepid demand for any kind of a lending program. They’ve already announced a plan to purchase collateralized bank bonds and bundles of loans known as asset backed securities, but that won’t start for about 2 weeks. So, for now, they sit back and wait and watch. Today’s ECB meeting was held in Naples; about 1,000 protesters were arrested.
You’ve already heard about the Liberian man who took a flight to the US and then came down with Ebola. He is in a Dallas Texas hospital fighting for his life. At first CDC officials thought there were just a handful of people possibly exposed, then they upped the number to 18, then about 40 people who would need to be monitored for possible Ebola infection. Now they say up to 100 people may have had direct or indirect contact with the patient. Dallas County officials said 12 to 18 people had direct contact with the Texas patient, and they in turn had contact with scores of others. If it sounds like a contagion, well it is. But the good news is that the health care system in the US should be more effective than the health care system in Western Africa. With the right care, people can survive an infection. Keep calm and carry on.
