Stock Market Opening Report - October 12, 2012

(By Rich Bieglmeier) Although stocks finished the day fairly close to breakeven, Thursday retreat was another bad sign for the indexes. The headline Jobless Claims number looked great; the lowest reading in more than four years but, there had to be a but.

One "big" state didn't submit data.  It turns out, the culprit was California. If you add the Golden State to the mix, the reading would have been on the mark. Following last week's interesting Employment Situation report, you would think the government would try to get it right. The people need a source of information that they can rely on and trust. Unfortunately, these mishaps, anomalies, and adjustments are planted the seeds of doubt.

It's bad for everybody, left, right, center and apolitical.

Enough with the sermons – stocks tried their best to provide some rally relief in the first half of the day, only to slide, and collide with something sharp, like a bear's claws. Sellers suckered them in, and then overwhelmed early worm buyers with sell tickets. This sort of action confirms that the equity indexes are in a bad spot; when the dip buying dies, so do rallies.

If there is any good news, it is that the S&P is hanging on to its September low by its digging in with its fingernails. Bulls need the benchmark index to get a grip, pull itself higher, and then reach back for the Dow and NASDAQ. However, it will be harder for the S&P to carry the weight of two, than for two to pull one over the cliff, too.

Today better be a good day as Mondays have been mostly red for the last two months. If stocks tread water again on Friday, and Monday brings out sellers, again, then the S&P will confirm the short-term sell signals created by the Dow and NASDAQ.

At least earnings will pick up next week. Maybe the likes of Google (GOOG) can help tech stocks and the market mood back on track.

Below, you will find next week's iEstimates. The lone survivor of our rigorous bullish earnings screen from last week, AngioDynamics Inc. (ANGO) hit the iEstimate on the mark, but announced an acquisition, which sunk the stock price. Let's see if we can have a little better luck this week.