Financial Aggregator

Wall Street loves to name market events with catchy names. For instance, last week’s crash was not simply a crash but the ‘flash crash’. Today, we noted a new buzzword used in the press: ‘Eurolehman’. The fact that we did not witness a Lehman-style doomsday scenario from the European front gave some market observers hope that a nastier sell-off could be avoided, at least for now. Initially, the day started on a gloomy note for the bulls (on the heels of yesterdays’ strong slide), with the broad market making a three-month low, but that was the worst of it as the market headed higher intraday, apparently catapulted by short-covering namely in the financial sector. Financials had lost some 11% over the last six sessions but rallied today by 3.6% gain. This leadership role helped the broad market find some upside today. Encouraging was the fact that financials rallied even though the Senate has now passed the contentious Financial Reform bill (which now goes to the House for vote). A rumor of a settlement in the Goldman fraud case may also have contributed to a more bullish tone today.

Some money managers suggested investors would be kicking themselves in several months’ time if they failed to pick up stocks on the cheap during the current correction. On the other hand, numerous bearish-minded commentators insist the market is headed significantly lower from current levels, for instance suggesting the Dow will move to 9,000 in the not-too-distant future.

The Labor Department released state-specific unemployment rate data today for April. Jobless rates fell in 34 states and in D.C., but they rose in six states; rates held steady in 10 states. In comparison, in March, 22 states had seen increased unemployment and only 16 states had reported a decline.

Monday:
	8:30 AM CHICAGO FED NAT.ACTIVITY INDEX (Apr): n.a. / -0.1% 10:00 AM EXISTING HOME SALES SAAR (Apr): 5.60M / 5.35M EXISTING HOME SALES M/M (Apr): 4.7% / 6.8%

Tuesday:
	9:00 AM S&P CASE SHILLER INDEX (Mar): n.a. / 144.0 S&P CASE SHILLER Y/Y (Mar): 2.4% / 0.6% 10:00 AM CONF.BOARD CONSUMER CONFIDENCE (May): 59.0 / 57.9 HOUSE PRICE INDEX Q/Q (Q1): n.a. / -0.1% HOUSE PRICE INDEX M/M (Mar): n.a. / -0.2% RICHMOND FED MANUF. INDEX (May): 25.0 / 30.0

Wednesday:
	8:30 AM DURABLE GOODS ORDERS M/M (Apr): 1.3% / -0.6% DURABLE GOODS ORDERS EX-TRANS M/M (Apr): 0.3% / 3.5% 10:00 AM NEW HOME SALES SAAR (Apr): 420K / 411K NEW HOME SALES M/M (Apr): 2.2% / 26.9%

Thursday:
	8:30 AM GDP (annualized) (Q1 P): 3.5% / 3.2% GDP DEFLATOR (annualized) (Q1 P): 0.9% / 0.9% CONTINUING CLAIMS May-15: n.a. / 4625K INITIAL CLAIMS May-22: 435K / 471K

Friday:
	8:30 AM PCE DEFLATOR Y/Y (Apr): n.a. / 2.0% PCE DEFLATOR Y/Y (core)(Apr): 1.2% / 1.3% PERSONAL INCOME M/M (Apr): 0.5% / 0.3% PERSONAL SPENDING M/M (Apr): 0.3% / 0.6% 9:45 AM CHICAGO PMI (May): 62.0 / 63.8 9:55 AM MICHIGAN CONSUMER SENTIMENT (May F): 73.5 / 73.3

By noreply@noemail.com (HGH Press)