The Hang Seng bucked the trend rising .1% today due to strong infrastructure stocks. Investors are
jumping into cement and railway stocks after Premier Wen Jiabao said China must maintain reasonable
investment growth. China Railway Construction jumped 5.2% while Anhui Conch Cement rose 2.8%.
Sun Hung Kai properties rose 3.6% after JPMorgan upgraded them to underweight from overweight and
upped its target price 10%. China’s banks are still holding them down after a fresh report of bad debt
fears.

European shares are timid, yet slightly up, with the FTSEurofirst adding .1% due to gains in defensive
stocks. Luxury brands Burberry is feeling the strain down 5% pulling with it French rival LVMH who is
down 2.5% due to reports of a slowdown in Burberry’s quarterly sales. The Spanish IBEX 35 index is
looking top gainer so far today, up over 1.4%.

Best buy, who is down 4.4% in pre-market due to an HHGregg guidance cut, announced its new
Canadian strategy to open smaller stores and go into non-core categories online, while also launching a
new price-matching program.

BAC, down 1.1% in pre-market, announced it cutting jobs in its commercial banking unit to deal with the
waning economy.

Commodities are beginning looking up this morning with crude, natural gas and silver all adding while
gold is set to begin down.

Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market.
Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu

Purchase applications were announced this morning and this week the report
shows and increase of 3% while the refinance applications are down 3%. At 8:30am
the International Trade report will be announced. April brought a decline in the
trade gap but only because of a drop in imports. At 10am the wholesale inventory
consensus will be announced. In April the inventories rose 0.6% but not enough to
match the increase in sales of 1.1%.

At the close yesterday the S&P 500 was still down at 0.81% decline. There is hope
for today though due to the stock index futures advance, according to Reuters. As
for 10-year treasuries and oil they both closed on an increase of 0.35% and 1.19%
respectively. The dollar on the other hand was down 0.19% at the close.

As for the earnings season today should be a positive day with 9 out of the 15
announcements projected to be positive. The big announcement to watch out for
today is Marriott, the company is estimated to increase EPS by 13.52%.

Make sure to check out our Webinar this Sunday and follow us on Twitter,
@keeneonmarket!

Advanced Micro Devices slumped after the company cut its second-quarter revenue outlook late Monday, citing weaker-than-expected business conditions in China and Europe. Also weighing on tech stocks was Applied Materials own after the firm lowered its full-year guidance to reflect weaker-than-expected demand in its semiconductor business.

Alcoa was the Dow’s biggest decliner after industrial metals producer posted an earnings loss late Monday amid slumping aluminum prices. Alcoa’s report, the first by a blue-chip company, unofficially kicks off earnings season.’

In economic news, the National Federation of Independent Business’s small-business optimism index fell in June to its lowest reading since October, missing expectations. 

Finally, JC Penny (JCP) fell -5.81% after analysts of Credit Suisse said second quarter sales are looking worse than the 20% drop posted in the first quarter. The department store retailer cut 350 jobs on top of the 600 employees they laid off in April. 

S&P 500 futures fell 4 points to 1345.25, NASDAQ futures fell 11.25 points to 2594.75, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 6 points to 12691.00.

James River Coal Co. (JRCC) continued to fall (-20%) with news that competitor Patriot Coal (PCX) filed for bankruptcy last night.

David Cornes holds a degree in economics from the University of Montana.