NFP ahead, Stock Traders are Cautious

A mixed trading day ended in red, as bullish traders gave into bearish ones, half an hour prior to the closing bell. Even though most of the economic events showed better than expected results and Bernanke tried to encourage market participants with his speech, investors preferred to cash in ahead of today’s market moving event.

Initial jobless claims, surprised for the better, coming out at 457.00k compared to an expected 482.00k. The number, which measures the amount of people who file for unemployment benefits for the first time during the given week, dropped by 5000k, compared to last week’s figure of 462.00k. In addition, the unit labor cost result, beat analyst’s expectations, showing a reading of -2.5% compared to -4.3%. The disappointment of the day was the ISM Non-manufacturing index which unexpectedly dropped from 50.6 to 48.7 in November. One must note that a number below 50 will often indicate towards economic contraction.

Bernanke took the stage yesterday, pouring his heart in order to try to justify the Fed’s recent actions. According to the Chairman, the recession could have been a lot worse if the Fed wouldn’t have jumped in, with its monetary help. In addition, Bernanke stated that even though there is significant improvement in the economy, it will take further time for the economy to regain full steam.

Stocks took a hit towards the end of the session, sending the indices to close in red. As one can see on the intraday chart below, the S&P500 broke its range and dropped to close with a loss of -0.84%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the session with a -0.54% loss.

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