Good morning. Along with another new high in oil prices this morning, there's chatter that Merrill Lynch may incur additional write-downs while the Fed considers new options to help the banks.
In other news, personal spending and incomes grew in May faster than forecast. The May PCE deflator also came in at 3.1%, which is slightly below expectations. Premarket futures were helped by the data, but overall are pointing toward more declines.
Premarket gainers: BDAY, ANDE, FINL, NOVL, DROOY, ROYL, HMY, AZZ, PWRD, CHINA, GRS, GTE, HMY, GFI, GFI, PAYX, UNH, AKS, ARM, SOL, & GOLD.
Premarket losers: ESLR, MER, HDSN, ERIC, REXX, CBK, SOHU, MRVL, NOK, VNDA, KBH, AEO, HCBK, LMC, HRZB, CXO, CBK, PALM, WYNN, RIMM, & DPZ.
We have just one last datapoint this week - the 10:AM report on consumer sentiment. Like all economic data at the moment, no one expects anything good from this report. In addition, as you can see from the following quote that I'm sure people will be talking about today, the gloom and doom is building:
"Sell everything. Nothing's working. Revisit when the prices are adjusted for a big recession, soaring inflation and a crushed consumer. Sell at 12,000 and come back at 10,000. Even better: short it." - Jim Cramer
I can't say I blame them. The market was built on the foundation of hope that the worst is over and sucked in quite a lot of money in that Bernanke "will save us" countertrend rally. But, like usual, it doesn't matter where we've been or what mistakes that already have been made by you or others, but where we're going now and how you're going to profit the most from it. There are opportunities out there - they just don't look like it. They never do in a market this ugly.
Be prepared to hear a litany of dire predictions now as people jump on the "sell everything" bandwagon by the very same people who were pounding on the table to buy stocks just a few short weeks ago. Ignore the noise and scare tactics and focus on what matters most - making good decisions and finding opportunities that do exist while people let their emotions get the better of them. That probably will be your one and only edge in this market, but it is a good one that has an unbelievably terrific track record.
