The confidence traders exuded in Thursday's regular session evaporated on Friday as a twin bill of worrisome consumer data combined to sap bullish momentum. The Labor Department reported personal spending dropped 0.5% in September, in line with expectations but still the steepest drop in some nine months and down sharply from a 1.3% gain posted in August on the back of the government's cash for clunkers car scheme.
Separately, consumer sentiment in October dropped to 70.6 from 73.5 in September, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of consumers. The data was in line with Street estimates, but was yet another sign that the American consumer remains sidelined by high debt levels, employment worries and a weak housing market.
The volatility recorded in today's market will persist into next week as traders are inundated with a raft of economic data. On Monday, the ISM Index and pending home sales are slated for release, while on Tuesday, the market will get a look at factory orders and auto and truck sales. The ADP Employment report; ISM services data, crude inventories and the FOMC rate decision are all slated for release on Wednesday. Thursday will bring initial claims data, and on Friday, the unemployment rate number will be released.
On the earnings front, quarterly results remain plentiful. Among companies due with financials next week are: Ford Motor Co. (
F), Hartford Financial (
HIG), Kraft (
KFT), MasterCard (
MA), UBS (
UBS), Cisco (
CSCO), Qualcomm (
QCOM), Nvidia (
NVDA), Starbucks (
SBUX), and VeriSign (
VRSN).
Despite the general market weakness, there were some stocks that firmed higher in Friday's session.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) gained after it reported Q3 revs of $1.14 bln, up from $1.11 bln a year ago and just below to in line with the analyst mean of $1.16 bln on Thomson Reuters.
