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US stock market daily report (March 01, 2013, Friday)

Contributed by Millennium Traders

President Barack Obama spoke to reporters Friday at the White House briefing room, after winding down the meeting with congressional leaders at the White House with no deal to eliminate the sequester, as the stalemate in Washington, continues. Over the next nine years and ending in fiscal 2021, the sequester would cut nearly $1 trillion in government spending. The next opportunity to turn off sequester cuts may be the expiration of a stopgap government funding bill on March 27. The President said he would honor previous commitments to accept the level of spending cuts implied by the sequester. Obama pressed for higher taxes to replace the cuts, in addition to spending cuts. “We can and must replace these cuts with a balanced approach,” Obama said Friday. Emerging from the meeting with a steadfast no-tax-increase pledge, Ohio Republican House Speaker John Boehner said the House would vote next week on a funding bill that will include spending reductions. “The discussion about revenue is over,” Boehner said. “I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow, you know, do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right,” Obama said. The president said he didn’t have such hostage-taking powers. “I am not a dictator, I’m the president,” he said. During his televised speech on Friday, comments from the President included: Ordinary people will feel sequester impact; cuts may trim GDP by 0.5 percentage points; he sees no financial crisis from sequester; sequestration is 'dumb...inexcusable'; impact of cuts may cause Republican rethink; many House Republicans demonize me; Republicans in Congress refuse to budge and he will continue pushing his priorities.

The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending in the U.S. rose by 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis during January for the third straight month. Personal income marked its sharpest drop in 20 years, down a whopping 3.6%. Personal savings rate during January fell to 2.4%, striking the lowest in six years. Inflation, gauged by the core PCE price index, moved slightly higher by 0.1%. Over the past 12 months, core rate has risen just 1.3%.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday, outlays for U.S. construction projects unexpectedly declined by 2.1% in January, to an annualized rate of $883.3 billion. During January, private construction spending fell 2.6%, private non-residential construction outlays sank by 5.1%; public spending fell 1% and spending on private homebuilding remained virtually unchanged.

Consumer-sentiment gauge, released Friday by the University of Michigan-Thomson Reuters indicated an increase to a final February reading of 77.6, for the highest level seen since November.
The Markit manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 54.3 in February from 55.8 in January and a flash estimate of 55.2, per reports on Friday. Employment gauge was reportedly the weakest since November and output rose to the fastest rate since March 2012.