Thursday, March 04, 2004

The employment report tomorrow is generating its usual amount of hype.  Over the past couple of years, the daily range on the S&P the day before the report has been about 14 points (high to low), compared to an average range of 16 points during that time.  It has been higher about 54% of the time, so not much different than any other day. The last 5 employment reports saw a range on the day prior (today in this case) of only 8 points, about 1/2 normal.  Also, 9 of the last 10 occurrences have closed the day positively.  With econ releases, opinion regarding them changes as often as the wind (sometimes a good number is good, sometimes it is bad, depending on the mood at the time), so I think it's tenuous to draw too many conclusions based on prior instances, but I thought I would give a heads-up in any case. 9:37:11 AM