US equity markets picked up on Tuesday where they left off on Friday – despite a lack of cooperation from crude oil. The Dow Industrials gained 1.39%, S&P 500 gained 1.65% and the NASDAQ posted an impressive 2.27% move higher on the day. The NASDAQ has gained 4.57% over the past two trading sessions. Volume closely mirrored Friday’s profile with the NYSE ticking 0.4% higher while the NASDAQ’s volume expanded by 6.75%. Every major market sector gained ground with the exception of energy which slipped a modest 0.26% reflecting a modest tick lower in crude prices (-1.40%).
Cutting output for Iran deemed “illogical” ahead of meeting in Iran
Yesterday’s Housing Market Index for January came in at 58 versus consensus calling for 61. Not at all surprisingly, the Empire State Mfg. Survey disappointed coming in at -16.64 versus expectations of -10.00. To be honest, I cannot ever remember a time when the Empire data was stronger than expected.
The big economic news on the day was Neel Kashkari’s speech in which he spoke of the necessity of breaking up the “too big to fail” banks.
Today’s economic calendar will be dominated by the PPI-FD data in conjunction with Industrial Production and the FOMC Minutes – due out at 2:00 PM EST.