Market Analysis

With nothing being said or done by politicians in Europe to quell investor fears, there is not much for investors to do but be fearful.  Thus bonds continue to improve and stocks deteriorate. 

In economic news, Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended 5/15/10 were expected to be down by 5,000 to 439,000.  Instead they increased to 471,000.  Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ended 5/8/10 were expected to be down to 4.6 million from the prior week's 4.625 million.  Instead they came in at 4.625 million but the prior week was revised up to 4.665 million, so technically Continuing Claims declined.  The Conference Board's April Leading Indicators were expected to be up .2% and instead were down .1%.  The May Philadelphia Fed index expected to be up slightly to 20.7 came in stronger than expected at 21.4.