A Bounce for Good Luck

If you're scoring at home - or even if you're alone - stocks spent the entire session trading in a narrow range to the positive side of the ledger. In the longer outlook, today's trading meant absolutely nothing. In the short term, it may have meant even less. After hearing that unemployment claims were "unexpectedly" higher - by a good amount - the crooked traders who control probably half the volume on a daily basis made sure to keep the indices from falling again, as would have been the normal reaction.

The usual suspects expected fresh unemployment claims to come in at around 580,000, which would have been the lowest in months. Instead, the Labor Dept. reported 637,000 new filings, putting to rest all the cheerleading about an early recovery, at least for the day. PPI also showed a slight increase - up 0.3%, which, supposedly, was hailed as good news. In the upside-down world that is Wall Street, any inflationary pressure is considered "healthy," when in fact, deflation has set upon US markets like a swarm of angry bees.

Dow 8,331.32, +46.43 (0.56%)
NASDAQ 1,689.21, +25.02 (1.50%)
S&P 500 893.07, +9.15 (1.04%)
NYSE Composite 5,733.45, +66.98 (1.18%)

One can hardly blame the criminal syndicate banksters for having to control everything from money supply to the ups and downs in the markets; they are, for the most part, broke, and holding onto $ trillions in near-worthless assets, hiding them from public view with the assistance from the corrupt and morally-bankrupt Obama administration (yes, I voted for the man, and, yes, I am severely disappointed up to this point).

Advancing issues kicked past decliners, 4510-1914. New lows showed better than new highs, 71-17. Volume was somewhat sluggish, yet another indication of the scared mood which has befallen the formerly great and glorious brokerages.

NYSE Volume 1,525,371,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,205,699,000

With stocks barely budging, commodity trading nearly ground to a halt. Oil was up a mere 2 cents, to $58.68; gold gained $2.50, to $928.40; silver also upped the ante 2 cents, to $14.04.

In related news, Chrysler told bankruptcy officers that they plan to close 789 dealerships across the country, which should result in the loss of jobs for about 14,000 employees nationwide. Chrysler plans to close more dealerships as it wades through its bankruptcy filing. With that news, GM's restructuring plan faces a deadline in just 16 more days, or it too will be forced into a similar situation.

Might as well face facts, Americans. The only stable US car manufacturer left standing is going to be Ford, and they're not doing a bang-up business themselves. Just keep following the lead of the Obama administration to certain economic destruction. It's coming to a mall, car dealership or municipal government near you, soon.