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[dodjit]

Economic data depressed any form of a major rally yesterday as Retail Sales and Initial claims showed worse than expected results. After positive GDP results from European economies during EZ hours, the retails figure showed that the U.S economy was spending less despite recent efforts by government officials to stimulate economic growth. Retail sales are closely watched by analysts, as the number is expected to account for approximately one-third of the demand in the U.S economy. The result showed a negative -0.1%, after last month’s whopping 0.6%. Furthermore initial claims showed a disappointing figure, rising by 558k, compared to a consensus of 545k.

After presenting a volatile session, the U.S stock market finished the day on a positive note, closing with an average gain of 0.7%. Financials and materials led the way both climbing by approximately 2%. Despite the disappointing retail sales figure, Wall-Mart (WMT) finished the session higher, mentioning that they expect better earnings.

From a technical point of view the major indices seem to be gaining strength, but are yet to cross their prior highs. Both the NASDAQ and the S&P500 are trading around prior resistance after climbing higher towards the end of yesterday’s session. Conservative traders should wait for a break of prior resistance for confirmation that the trend is continuing. When taking a look at the chart below, one can see that even though the S&P500 is now trading slightly above major resistance of 1007, the index hasn’t yet completely cleared the level.


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