Unemployment claims were bad. No two ways about it. The weekly claims were up to 455,000, and the four-week moving average rose as well, to 419,500. The four-week moving average moved into recession territory.
Same-store sales comparisons for a variety of companies were almost all disappointing. That probably shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as gasoline is still very pricey and the effect of the rebate checks has mostly passed.
The ECB and the Bank of England held their respective interest rates unchanged. The price of oil is up this morning, but I have to think that's a countertrend rally. It is hard to see oil going up -- except for on geopolitical reasons, which might be at play today -- when the economic outlook here and abroad is faltering.
P.S. Will you be there when Cramer makes his next move?
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Market Commentary Rising Layoffs Threaten a Market Rebound 8/6/2008 2:31 PM EDT The recent Challenger layoff data is a possible harbinger of more weakness to come.
Vincent Farrell Jr. is chief investment officer for Soleil Securities Group and a regular guest on CNBC and other national print and broadcast media.
Prior to joining Soleil in August 2008, Farrell was a principal of Scotsman Capital Management. Before that, he was chairman of Victory Capital Management of Cleveland and chairman of Victory SBSF Capital Management in New York. He was a founding partner of Spears Benzak Salomon & Farrell, which was acquired by KeyCorp in 1995. Vince held a variety of positions in his 23 years at SBSF, including chief investment officer, and he served as the portfolio manager on a number of the firm's largest client relationships.
Prior to joining SBSF, Vince spent nine years at Smith Barney as a vice president, sales.
Vince graduated from Princeton University in 1969 and received his MBA from the Iona College Graduate School of Business in 1972.
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