Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tomorrow's GDP Report: Let's Just Tank This Market and Get It Over With

DJIA 15540; S&P 1688. How's about 1670 and 13,200 just for grins and giggles.
And while we're at it, gold up to $1360 would be nice.
From MarketWatch:

What to expect from the GDP report
The U.S. economy probably slowed in the second quarter, but the size of the drop is far from clear and analysts doubt there will be much carryover in the second half of the year.

The release of second-quarter GDP on Wednesday kicks off a busy day for Wall Street. The Federal Reserve could offer further clues about its interest-rate strategy after a two-day policy meeting and payroll-handler ADP will publish its latest tally of private-sector hiring in July. 

The economy, as measured by gross domestic product, is forecast to decline to 1.0% in the April-to-June period from 1.8% in the first quarter, according to analysts polled by MarketWatch. That’s well below the nation’s long-run average of 3.2%. 

Yet the range of the second-quarter forecasts is wider than usual: from a high of 2% growth to a low of a 0.7% decline. 

What’s complicating matters is the Labor Department’s periodic overhaul of how the government measures GDP. These “benchmark” revisions adopt new ways to determine the size of the economy and how fast it’s growing. The new methods are then extended all the way back to 1929....MORE