Democratic Underground - Market Numbers and blather at 2:31 EST

Dow 10,277.25 +74.60 (+0.73%)
Nasdaq 1,995.53 +4.76 (+0.24%)
S&P 500 1,126.95 +5.75 (+0.51%)
10-Yr Bond 4.716% +0.012

2:00PM: Market continues to work its way higher, although the advance seems to have been capped at 1123 for the S&P 500 - the same place over the last three sessions the broader market has stalled... The broker dealer group has lagged behind today, just as it has since the March employment report came out (+337 in nonfarm payrolls) and investors began to speculate that June could be when the Fed would start to tighten... Goldman Sachs is out with a cautious note on the brokers today, saying that Q2 will mark the first quarter of a new down cycle in Return on Equity trends...

The firm expects this down cycle to be fueled by declines in fixed income trading revenues, which it does not believe will be fully offset by growth in M&A and equity-related businesses...NYSE Adv/Dec 1796/1392, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1482/1535

1:30PM: Equities improve their stance incrementally, but continue to trade close to the unchanged mark... May auto sales from DaimlerChrysler (DCX 44.43 +0.16) and Ford (F 14.85 -0.19) have been released, and the results have been rather disappointing... DaimlerChrysler AG reported a 1% increase in sales and Ford delivered a 3.1% decrease - both below most analyst estimates... The domestic autos had been predicting a pick-up in spring sales - coming off a weak winter - and thus far, the numbers have been less than expected...

The slowdown in sales, combined with the worry that a less favorable interest rate environment would hurt profitability in each company's financial division, has weighed on the group all year... The Big 3 are down 12% year-to-date, compared to flat for the S&P 500...

Those "disappointing auto sales" sure boosted the market!

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