TheStreet Search RSS Feed: Sung Moss

Dow Salutes September With a 255-Point Gain

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:30:06 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- After getting beaten down in August, stocks roared back to life in September's inaugural session with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring more than 200 points Wednesday on encouraging economic news both at home and abroad.

The Dow surged from the start and maintained its gains through the closing bell. The blue chip average finished with a gain of 255 points, or 2.5%, to finish at 10,269, just 10 points below its high for the day. The S&P 500 added 31 points, or 3%, to close at 1,080, while the Nasdaq advanced 63 points, or 3%, to 2,177.

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Oil Prices Struggle Alongside Stocks

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:01:17 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Oil prices struggled alongside equities Monday as market watchers continued seeing less encouraging signs in the economic landscape.

The October delivery contract for crude on the Nymex was falling 65 cents to $74.52 a barrel. Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at PFGBest, said oil was coming under pressure because of continuing indicators fueling lingering doubts about economic growth, influencing the clear correlation between the major stock market averages and oil futures Monday.

"Oil prices are kind of following the stock market," he said, putting this week's jobs report and other economic figures on the front of traders' minds, and relegating weekly oil supply statistics to second-tier status among the datastream. "Despite the fact fundamentals are overwhelmingly bearish, we're following the stock market because it's an indicator of how the overall economy is doing." ...

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GDP Growth Revised Lower to 1.6%

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:39:56 EDT

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- Economic growth in the second quarter was even more tepid than originally reported, the government said Friday, which more or less validates other recent economic indicators pointing to a slowdown in the recovery.

The government said further revisions to trade stats and inventories were the main factors weighing on the GDP figures.

The Commerce Department revised its quarterly gross domestic product estimate sharply lower to a seasonally adjusted 1.6% annual growth pace. Though the slowing growth pace is still disappointing compared with the red-hot growth experienced at the end of last year, the figure still came in slightly ahead of the expectations of market observers. Many were projecting the growth pace to slow further to 1.4%, according to consensus projections provided by Briefing.com. ...

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Nat Gas Lower After Stockpiles Jump

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:54:59 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Natural gas prices turned lower Thursday after a government storage report showed inventory levels rising higher last week.

Natural gas storage levels in the lower 48 states added another 40 billion cubic feet for the week ended Aug. 20, the Energy Information Administration said. The net injection landed around the upper range of expectations, as a survey from Platts showed analysts expected inventories to jump 37 to 41 billion cubic feet.

After trading flat just before the report's release, the most actively traded October delivery contract for natural gas was edging lower by 3 cents at $3.87 per million British thermal units most recently. During the session, the contract also tumbled to its most depressed level of the year, according to The Associated Press. A reading from the CME website showed prices reached a low of $3.791 Thursday. ...

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New Jobless Claims Retreat

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:40:57 EDT

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- After hitting a nine-month high last week, new jobless claims dipped lower than expected, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The number of new applicants for state unemployment insurance fell by 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 473,000 for the week ended Aug. 21. Initial claims data for the week prior also were revised subtly higher by 4,000 to 504,000. New claims were expected to tick lower to 485,000 from the prior week's pre-revised 500,000 total, according to Briefing.com. The half-million tally was the highest number of new claims since the fall of 2009.

The moving average of new claims over the past month, which tends to offer a more settled picture of the data against the gyrating week-to-week moves, rose higher by 3,250 to 486,750. But the number of those continuing to apply for jobless benefits slid lower to 4.456 million from 4.518 million. ...

Oil Rises Despite Surprise Inventory Build

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:37:18 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Oil futures broke a five-day losing streak on Wednesday despite news of a bigger-than-expected build in inventory levels.

A sell-off ensued immediately after the government's Energy Information Administration said crude oil stockpiles surged by 4.1 million barrels last week for the week ended Aug. 20. The disappointing demand figure far outpaced projections from Platts calling for a build of 1.1 million barrels.

But the bearish report didn't dampen the market for long, and selling exhaustion eventually translated to a price lift. ...

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Durable Goods Up 0.3%, Below Forecasts

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:01:04 EDT

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- New orders for durable goods grew at an anemic rate in July, according to a government report released Wednesday, as demand for items like computers and machinery dropped sharply during the month.

The Commerce Department said durable orders -- or those enduring, long-lasting, manufactured goods -- rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.3%, or about $600 million, last month to reach $193 billion. But that effort disappointed analysts and economists, who were looking for orders to grow by 3%, according to consensus projections provided by Briefing.com.

The tepid growth, however, was better than the order drops in June and May of 0.1% and 0.7%, respectively. ...

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