Despite Slowing, Productivity Still Growing
Labor productivity for Q2 closely resembled growth of the last few years in
spite of the economic slowing, yet couldn’t keep the U.S. market afloat over the
length of the trading session.
Volatility, notably absent over the last few trading stanzas, returned
however, providing some interesting intraday action. The Dow Industrials
(
INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fared the best when the dust settled, rising 100 points from the open before
chopping, finding low, and rallying prior to more choppiness into the close.
INDU finished up 35.08 at 10032.57. The Nasdaq Composite
(
COMPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) attempted
to close in the green but faltered, closing down 11.68 to 1759.10 and the S&P
500
(
SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 1.19 to 1131.75.
Educational stocks continue to exhibit weakness, yet managed to regain some
of their earlier losses. Corinthian Colleges
(
COCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dipped down to
the $30 level prior to its reversal, ending the session at 32.83, down 2.16. Educational
Management Corp.
(
EDMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) knifed lower by 4.49 to close at 32.89 and Career
Education Corp.
(
CECO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 3.25 to 54.56.
Semiconductor stocks were also distributed early as the Semiconductor
Index
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) sliding before managing to crawl back to repair some of
the damage, finishing down down 9.10 at 534.56. Alpha Industries
(
AHAA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost
4.92 to 25.17 and Cabot Microelectronics
(
CCMP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) headed 3.06 lower to
close at 63.46.
CrayFish
(
CRFH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), a thinly traded issue, rose 19% on more than 10
times average volume. CRFH gained 3.15 to 13.15.
VaxGen
(
VXGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped over a downward trendline, closing strong at
14.91, up 2.91.
Economic reports due for release tomorrow include chainstore sales, jobless
claims and the NAPM non-manufacturing numbers.