Tainted Alpha

ADP unemployment for November just came out at -169.000 vs. -209.000 last month. Similar as with jobless claims, the job loses are coming down, but U.S. economy is still losing jobs.

The story of the day in the U.S. yesterdays was GM CEO Fritz Henderson resignation. The resignation followed the Motor Vehicle Sales but apparently the reason was the GM board being not happy with  Mr. Henderson handling Opel and Saab asset sales. Bloomberg link: Henderson Said to Flunk Board’s 100-Day Review on Fixing GM.

Motor Vehicle Sales for November came at rate of 8.2 million units vs. 7.75 million consensus and 7.9 million December. A clear improvement, but still at depressed levels. Chrysler-Fiat clear looser, foreign producers and Ford winners, GM -2.2%. Bloomber story: Auto-Sales Rate Climbs as GM, Toyota Beat Estimates.

ISM’s manufacturing index fall back 2.1 points to 53.6, the consensus was at 55. Disappointment in my view, but again the market has taken the data point as positive.

Construction spending was flat in October, vs. consensus of  -0.4% and 0.8% rise in September. It is running at -14.4% Y-o-Y rate.

Market vise, the gold and equities are hitting new highs, U.S. dollar new lows. VIX is falling. The carry trade, risk on trade rocks.

Chart 1. Gold Futures

Chart 2. S&P 500

Chart 3. VIX

Chart 4. Crude Oil Futures

Crude Oil rises despite these kind of news. WSJ story: Global Oil Glut Roils an English Tourist Village.

ADP Employment, Carry Trade, Chrysler-Fiat, Crude Oil, Ford (F), General Motors, Gold, ISM Manufacturing Index, U.S. Construction Spending, VIX

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 7:31 am and is filed under Markets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.