Bulls Stampede, ISM Soars, Oil Climbs

The first trading day of the year was greeted by a bull stampede. Major stock indexes closed sharply higher on climbing commodity prices and greatly improved manufacturing data. Stocks ignored a heightened terrorist threat alert and a falling U.S. dollar helped the bulls rally. A 15-month high was hit on the indexes today with the DJIA advancing +155.91 to 10583.96, the tech heavy Nasdaq climbed +39.27 to 2308.42 and the broad based S&P 500 soared +17.89 to 1132.99.

^CNX^: Advanced 6.33% or $3.15 to $52.95/share after positive manufacturing data lifted the coal and metal sector.

^ACL^: Fell 5.70% or $9.37 to $154.98/share upon Novartis offering to buy the remaining segments from Nestle SA.

^WYNN^: UBS upgraded the Steve Wynn controlled company to “buy” sending shares higher by 9.84% or $5.73 to $63.96.

^MS^: Obtained upgrades at UBS and Credit Suisse resulting in shares climbing by 4.43% or $1.31 to $30.91.

Gold added $23.30 to $1120.50, oil climbed $2.29 to $81.65 and the VIX gave back 7.56% to 20.04.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

+155.91 10583.96

NASDAQ

+39.27 2308.42

S&P 500

+17.89 1132.99
Economic
News

Construction Spending (Nov): Consensus: -0.5%, Prior: -0.5%

ISM Index (Dec): Consensus: 54.3, Prior: 53.6

Factory Orders (Nov): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 0.6%

Pending Home Sales (Nov): Consensus: -3.0%, Prior: 3.7%

Auto Sales (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: 3.8M

Truck Sales (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.6M

Challenger Job Cuts (Dec): Consensus: NA, Prior: -72.3%

ADP Employment Report (Dec): Consensus: -75K, Prior: -169K

ISM Services (Dec): Consensus: 50.5, Prior: 48.7

Crude Inventories (12/31): Consensus: NA, Prior: -1.54M

Initial Claims (01/02): Consensus: 445K, Prior: 432K

Average Workweek (Dec): Consensus: 33.2, Prior: 33.2

Hourly Earnings (Dec): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: 0.1%

Nonfarm Payrolls (Dec): Consensus: 0K, Prior: -11K

Unemployment Rate (Dec): Consensus: 10.1%, Prior: 10.0%

Wholesale Inventories (Nov): Consensus: -0.3%, Prior: 0.3%

Consumer Credit (Nov): Consensus: -$5.0B, Prior: -$3.5B