With a record-setting January in the books, the markets registered a strong opening-day performance for the second month of the year. Whether February can keep 2012's impressive pace going remains to be seen. Yesterday's trading session was filled with activity featuring Facebook filing for a $5 billion IPO, several prominent economic indicators released, and positivity over Greek debt deal a resolution.
But before we jump into these macro events, let's see how the three largest indices fared:
Gain / Loss | Gain / Loss % | Ending Value | |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
83.55 | 0.66% | 12,716.46 |
Nasdaq |
34.43 | 1.22% | 2,848.27 |
S&P 500 |
11.68 | 0.89% | 1,324.09 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance
All three had solid performances, with the Dow hitting -- but not holding -- May 2008 levels, helped in a large part by strong macro data. It appears that the recent gains by manufacturing are strengthening. Auto sales were up 11% in January, its best showing in almost four years and even Chrysler -- Chrysler -- turned a profit. The ISM index had its best performance since the beginning of summer with 54.1, an increase of 1.0 sequentially (anything over 50 shows expansion), and December construction spending bested expectations.
After hours, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
The Dow took a breather with no components reporting yesterday, but will be right back at it with Merck
However, the most important thing to watch before trading will be unemployment data. This is a major economic indicator and will likely set the tone for the trading day.
Watching the broad market each day is exciting, gut-wrenching, and stressful. If you're in the mood to pick up a great company to buy for the long term, The Motley Fool has created a brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." It features a company hand-selected by the Fool's chief investment officer for the strong future ahead of it. I invite you to grab a copy, which is free for a limited time. Get access to the report and find out the name of this legendary company. The report won't be available forever, so check it out today!