The Closing Look

Stocks rallied on Thursday after the latest round of mostly disappointing economic data was released. The big miss came from retail sales, they fell -0.3% last month, missing estimates for an unchanged reading. Elsewhere, Jobless Claims came in at 260k, lower than the Street’s estimate for 265k. The Producer Price Index (PPI) came in flat which was slightly lower than the Street’s estimate for  again of 0.1%. This suggests inflation still remains at bay. Industrial Production came in at -0.4%, missing estimates for a decline of -0.2%. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey slid to -1.99, missing estimates for -1.00. The Current Account was -$119.9B, slightly better than the $122.8B forecast. On a more positive note, the Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey jumped to 12.8, beating estimates for 2.0.

Gary’s Thoughts: Weaker numbers=rally. Fed will not hike and probably market moving back up on this. The bigger story is Apple and its positive influence again. Not only a big cog in the wheel for the NASDAQ 100 and NASDAQ but helps technology overall. Semis strong because of the suppliers. Good day. Areas hit hardest recently and oversold better today.