Hurry Up And Wait

(this post should have been up earlier, but didn't publish. so I am re-posting it)

Today is normally a 'hurry up and wait' day as the market moves at a snail's pace until the FOMC announces their change in interest rates, and then trading picks up in a flurry. But this morning there were several pieces of data that got things going at an above average pace.

Q1 GDP (advance) came in at +0.6%, above estimates and well above the whisper numbers of all those who thought the figures would show an outright contraction in economic activity. The bears will say that all of the strength was due to inventory building, and doesn't reflect real demand. But the consumer spending and net export component of the report was solid.

This report basically takes the official recession call off the table. Just another example of why you simply can't make any money listening to the media, who were convinced a recession was a foregone conclusion.

Also, the ADP Employment report, a measure of private payrolls, showed an increase of 10,000 jobs vs. estimates of -60,000 decline. While this report doesn't correlate very well to the official jobs report, it is still worth noting.

Asian markets were mixed overnight on commodity pressure, but China surged +4.8% higher; oil is lower again today on a report that showed a build in crude inventories; and the 10-year yield is near 3.80%, after rebounding from yesterday's lows. The bond market does not appear worried with today's GDP report, which also showed a lower inflation reading than forecast.

Growth stocks are leading the way again, led by tech and solar, as well as a bounceback in the hard hit ag stocks.