Posted June 24, 2012 10:20
Sunday night, the markets got some relief as the New Democracy Party won in Greece’s election. Because of this, the market was able to rally during the Monday trading session. Despite being dealt some positive news, traders were eying the FOMC meeting on Wednesday.
Everybody was hoping for QE3, but in my opinion, there was no chance due to the criticism that would emerge if Ben Bernanke enacted more quantitative easing.
Instead, Bernanke met market expectations; he kept interest rates low through late 2014 and extended Operation Twist through the end of the year. The market initially sold off, but then was able to end the day unchanged.
Then Thursday came along, and along with the disappointment of the result of the Fed meeting (lack of QE), the market was dealt with
1. a call from Goldman Sachs saying to short the market, and also
2. the Philly Fed Index coming in at negative 16. This number proves that there is going to be summer slowdown.
When the Philly Fed Index comes in this low, it usually leads to a very weak jobs number, which will come out during the first week of July. Due to these three factors, the market sold-off more than 200 points.
Looking forward to next week, the market will look toward Europe for direction. Also on Thursday, RIMM will report earnings. Look for a big disappointment and a possible sell-off in shares.
