Confidence Falls, Stocks Slip, Volatility Spikes

Negative sentiment from the Consumer Confidence figure weighed heavily on the stock market today. Additional unexpected bad news arose from the Foreclosure arena further pushed stocks into the red. The Volatility Index VIX spiked higher for the first time in 6 days as traders scrambled for derivative insurance against further market declines. The DJIA dropped -82.38 to 8447.00, the tech heavy Nasdaq gave back -9.02 to 1835.04 and the broad based S&P 500 slipped -7.91 to 919.32.

Starbucks
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– This consumer favorite was hit by the falling confidence figures dropping 5.12% or 75 cents to $13.89/share.

Apollo Group
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– Led the S&P 500 in second place gains as the for-profit college operator crushed estimates sending shares soaring 7.90% or $5.21 to $71.20.

Electronic Arts
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– Was upgraded to “buy” by Bank of America, causing shares to climb 4.42% or 91 cents to $21.72.

Geron Group
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– Reached a stem cell agreement with GE Healthcare pushing the stock higher by 14.35% or 98 cents to $7.67/share.

Oil fell $1.60 to $69.99, Gold dropped $13.30 to $927.40 and the VIX index added 3.94% to 26.35 after being higher intraday.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

-82.38 8447.00

NASDAQ

-9.02 1835.04

S&P 500

-7.91 919.32

Economic
News

Consumer Confidence (Jun): Consensus: 55.1, Prior: 54.9

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index (Apr): Consensus: -18.75%, Prior: -18.70%

Chicago PMI (Jun): Consensus: 38.5, Prior: 34.9

ADP Employment Change (Jun): Consensus: -363K, Prior: -532K

Construction Spending (May): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 0.8%

ISM Index (Jun): Consensus: 44.0, Prior: 42.8

Pending Home Sales (May): Consensus: 1.1%, Prior: 6.7%

Crude Inventories (06/26): Consensus: NA, Prior: -3.87M

Auto Sales (Jun): Consensus: NA, Prior: 3.3M

Truck Sales (Jun): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.1M

Nonfarm Payrolls (Jun): Consensus: -370K, Prior: -345K

Unemployment Rate (Jun): Consensus: 9.6%, Prior: 9.4%

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

Average Workweek (Jun): Consensus: 33.1, Prior: 33.1

Initial Claims (06/27): Consensus: NA, Prior: 627K

Factory Orders (May): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: 0.7%