每日市场点评 --- August 1, 2008

The market ended the last trading session of the week in a lackluster fashion. All three major indices were lower for the second day in a row but the loss was limited. As for the week, the market was essentially flat. Given all the volatility early in the week, it was truly amazing to note that the Nasdaq only moved 0.5 point(not %) for the week as a whole. We had some important economic news. Start with the closely watched monthly job report. The nonfarm payrolls fell 51K in July, which was slightly better than consensus. The jobless rate, on the other hand, rose to 5.7%, slightly worse than expectation. The payroll numbers for the previous two months were also revised up by 26K. In a separate report, the ISM index for July came at 50 vs. 49.2 expected. Within the ISM index, the New Orders dropped to 45.0 from 49.6; Production increased to 52.9 from 51.5 while Employment advanced 8.2 points to 51.9. Prices component remained high at 88.5 but was slightly better than 91.5 in the previous month. Finally, construction spending for June dropped 0.4% while economists were looking for a decline of 0.3%.

Financial was the only major sector that ended the session in green. On the losers’ list, we had names like basic materials and transportation. The CRB commodity index was little changed after dropping 10% in July. The US dollar was higher against most major currencies while treasuries continued to move sideways. The VIX index dropped slightly. The market breath was negative on both NYSE and Nasdaq.