Market Opens Under Pressure After Yesterday's Giveback

A couple of economic reports weighed on the market in early trading. The Chicago PMI was weaker than exepcted, and the jobless claims came in higher than exepcted at 375,000 for the week.

This worried the market that the economy is still weakening, and led to a selloff in stocks and buying of bonds. The buying pressure in the latter pushed bond yields on the 10-year down to 3.61%. But the rate cuts and now positively sloping yield curve continues to help the financials, which are up so far despite the overall weakness.

Mastercard (MA) reported a strong quarter, and its stock spiked higher by $24. They are seeing increased credit card transactions, and do not issue any debt like Amex (AXP).

Asian markets were mixed overnight, as heavy snow in China weighed on some markets. The Yen is also higher, and its reversal higher yesterday likely exacerbated the selloff in our markets. Oil is down $2 this morning, and this is leading to heavy selling in the energy complex.

The weakness from the open is already fading, and I would not be surprised to see stocks finish higher today.