Bernanke's comments yesterday allowed investors to reenter the market and
help the major index composites rally to end the day. The momentum gained
appeared to be short lived this morning as stocks were set for a mixed open. The
Dow Jones Industrials were hovering right around breakeven just prior to opening
bell according to pre-market tracking. Mid-day analysis revealed that the major
index composites were trailing off and threatening to close in the red after
three days of gains. The GDP report came out today via the Commerce Department
and it revealed an annual growth percentage rate of 1.8 percent for the first
quarter. This rate was a bit lower than the rate of growth that analysts had
been anticipating. In addition to this report, the Labor Department added data
that further clouded the economic outlooks. According to the Labor Department,
weekly jobless claims were higher than expected again as last week's number
for first time jobless applicants came in at 429,000. This news weighed on
investors and brought sentiment down while the report from the National
Association of Realtors was more positive than expected. The housing sector has
struggled and most were not anticipating much from the pending home sales report
for March. The report however was far better than expected. According to the
National Association of Realtors, pending home sales in March notched higher by
5.1 percent. The dollar was falling this day and posted lower versus the euro,
Japanese yen and the British pound. Gold and Silver were on a rally again. Both
contract gold and contract silver were trending higher through mid day trading
today. At the Mid-day mark, the Dow Jones Industrials were still green but the
Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were in the red. The economic recovery seemed to stumble
today and by day's end, the major market index composites in the U.S. were
closing off in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by .61
percent at 12,767.93. The Nasdaq was higher by .09 percent at 2872.53 and the
S&P 500 was higher by .35 percent at 1360.38. Author: Frank Matto
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