Bernanke Optimistic, Goldman Sinks, Retail Down

Ben Bernanke stated that he was fundamentally optimistic concerning the economic recovery during a speech at Atlanta’s Morehouse College. Despite the Fed Chief’s high spirits and Goldman Sachs blowing away earning estimates, stocks ended the day lower. Even the mighty, strong earning Goldman Sachs slipped due to investors fears of the issuing of new stock would dilute present value. Upside momentum was further stymied by weak Retail Sales figures and Wholesale Price number failing to indicate core improvement. The DJIA gave back -137.63 to 7920.18, the tech heavy Nasdaq dropped -25.59 to 1625.72 and the broad based S&P 500 fell -17.23 to 841.50.

Goldman Sachs
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– Shocked the investment community dropping 10.79% or $14.04 to $116.11 after blowing away earning estimates but spooked traders due to stating they will issue additional stock to pay back the TARP funds diluting value.

Macy’s
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– Weak Retail Sales figures weighed heavily on the department store giant with shares dropping 7.50% or 0.97 cents to $11.96.

WW Grainger
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– Crushed analyst’s profit estimates gaining 3.48% or $2.69 to $79.99/share.

General Motors
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– Rumors of the Feds swapping debt for an ownership stake sent shares higher 4.09% or 0.07 cents to $1.78.

Oil dropped 0.64 cents to $49.15, Gold gave back $3.80 to $892.00 and the fear VIX index fell 0.37% to 37.67 indicating confidence still remains in the market.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

-137.63 7920.18

NASDAQ

-25.59 1625.72

S&P 500

-17.23 841.50

Economic
News

Core PPI (Mar): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.2%

PPI (Mar): Consensus: 0.0%, Prior: 0.1%

Retail Sales (Mar): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: -0.1%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Mar): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.7%

Business Inventories (Feb): Consensus: -1.1%, Prior: -1.1%

Core CPI (Mar): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.2%

CPI (Mar): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: 0.4%

Empire Manufacturing (Apr): Consensus: -35.0, Prior: -38.2

Net Long-Term TIC Flows (Feb): Consensus: NA, Prior: -$43.0B

Capacity Utilization (Mar): Consensus: 69.7%, Prior: 70.9%

Industrial Production (Mar): Consensus: -0.9%, Prior: -1.4%

Crude Inventories (04/10): Consensus: NA, Prior: +1645K

Fed’s Beige Book: Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Building Permits (Mar): Consensus: 550K, Prior: 547K

Housing Starts (Mar): Consensus: 550K, Prior: 583K

Initial Claims (04/11): Consensus: NA, Prior: 654K

Philadelphia Fed (Apr): Consensus: -32.0, Prior: -35.0

Mich Sentiment-Prel (Apr): Consensus: 58.5, Prior: 57.3