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US stock market daily report (September 10, 2012, Monday)

Contributed by Millennium Traders

During July according to data released on Monday from the Federal Reserve, consumer credit declined for the first time in 11 months as Americans turned to their plastic less and as growth in student loans cooled. Data showed that consumer credit fell at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.5% to $2.71 trillion. Revolving debt like credit-card borrowing fell for the second month with a 6.8% slide while larger non-revolving consumer credit category such as auto and student loans saw a slowing of the growth rate, down to just 1% from 9.8% in June. The Fed made a substantial upward revision of data from December 2010 onwards, with June growth reaching 5.3% from a previously reported 3% and May growth of 8.7% from a previous estimate of 7.8%. June's level of credit was revised up to $2.71 trillion from $2.58 trillion.

According to a monthly labor-market report released Monday by the Conference Board, a private research group, a gauge of employment trends increased in August, but gained little over the past six months, signaling that jobs growth may remain slow, in the short-term. The employment-trends index, which is designed to forecast turning points in employment, increased 0.51% in August from July, and is up 0.69% from February. "Economic activity expanded by less than a 2 percent rate in recent months, and this pace is likely to continue through the end of the year. In such an environment, it's difficult to foresee the economy adding much more than 100,000 jobs per month," said Gad Levanon, macroeconomic research director at the Conference Board. The employment-trends index is made up of eight labor-market indicators, four of which made positive contributions in August led by the percentage of firms with positions that they are unable to fill right now. The index level for August is up 6.2% from last year, reaching 107.47 in June, compared with 100 in 1996.

A last-minute turnaround ahead of inventories data and the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the week, Oil futures ended the session higher on Monday. Crude for October delivery (NMN:CLV2) added 12 cents, or 0.1%, to $96.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after spending most of the day in the red.

Relinquishing some of the sharp gains from last week, Gold futures ended lower Monday as investors took profits and waited to hear from the U.S Federal Reserve later this week when FOMC Policy makers are scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday, with a policy statement due Thursday. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, Gold for December delivery (CNS:GCZ2) declined $8.70 or 0.5%, to end at $1,731.80 an ounce. Reports on other metals results for the day include: Copper for December delivery (CNS:HGZ2) gain of 4 cents or 1.2%, to $3.69 per pound, settling at its highest since May; December Silver (CNS:SIZ2) pulled back by 6 cents or 0.2%, to $33.63 an ounce; Platinum for October delivery (NYMEX:PLV2) gained $7.50 or 0.5% to $1,603.80 an ounce and December Palladium (NYMEX:PAZ2) rose $18 or 2.8% to $672.75 an ounce.

Titan Machinery (TITN) shares got the smack-down today, plummeting lower by 23% where it ended during the final minutes of the closing session on Wall Street. The agricultural and construction-equipment retailer saw margins pressured by a drought and a competitive retail environment. Revenue was up 32% in the fiscal Q2 to $410.1 million with a reported profit of $5.2 million or $0.25 per share. Titan reduced earnings guidance for the full year to between $2.10 and $2.30, down $0.45 from previous guidance. Share trading volume which averaged mid to high four hundred thousand mark, rocketed to over 7.9 million shares traded on the session.

On Tuesday at a financial services conference organized by Barclays in New York, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) multi-billion-dollar trading loss will likely once again steal the spotlight when Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive, gives a presentation to investors. Dimon, will speak at 12:45pm Eastern Time.