Stocks Fight Higher, Budget Gap Grows, Employment Improves

Stocks ended the session in positive territory after flirting with breakeven for most of the trading day. Bearish news of record budget deficit was countered by improved employment in 9 Federal districts. A strong showing in Boeing lifted the market while Travelers Insurance acted as a drag. The Dow eased higher by +2.95 to 10567.33, the tech heavy Nasdaq surged a relative +18.27 to 2358.95 and the broad based S&P 500 advanced +5.17 to 1145.61.

^RSH^: Climbed 5.58% or $1.20 to $22.70/share after an online news service speculated it was up for sale.

^MU^: Advanced 4.89% or 46 cents to $9.87/share after JMP Securities upped its share price forecast.

^ITMN^: Surged 64.76% or $15.09 to $38.39/share upon a U.S. panel backing of a new lung disease drug.

^GR^: Moved higher by 2.12% or $1.48 to $71.20/share upon being added to Goldman Sachs’ “conviction buy” list.

Oil climbed 45 cents to $81.93, gold fell $14.10 to $1107.70 and the VIX added 3.63% to 18.57.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

+2.95 10,567.33

NASDAQ

+18.27 2,358.95

S&P 500

+5.17 1,145.61
Economic
News

Wholesale Inventories (Jan): Consensus: 0.2%, Prior: -0.8%

Crude Inventories (03/06): Consensus: NA, Prior: 4.03M

Treasury Budget (Feb): Consensus: -$210.0B, Prior: -$42.6B

Continuing Claims (02/27): Consensus: 4500K, Prior: 4500K

Initial Claims (03/06): Consensus: 460K, Prior: 469K

Trade Balance (Jan): Consensus: -$41.0B, Prior: -$40.2B

Retail Sales (Feb): Consensus: -0.2%, Prior: 0.5%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Feb): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.6%

Mich Sentiment (Mar): Consensus: 74.0, Prior: 73.6

Business Inventories (Jan): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: -0.2%