Opening Bell

With the opening bell, stocks rallied to their highs of the day. Energy and Industrials are the leading sectors of S&P 500, up 2.81% and 2.62% respectively. S&P is up 16.46 points at 935.60. All sectors of S&P are trading higher.

Meanwhile the U.S Dollar is hitting its fresh lows for the day. The Index is now at 78.83. As you know, the Index is now trading its six month lows. Crude oil on the other hand, is making a come back, changing hands around $68 a barrel.

Commodities are also on the move today. Gold is trading $982.20 an ounce, up 0.27% where Silver is at 15.77 slightly down 0.13%.

On one note, investors are slowly dumping GM, bringing down the stock as low as $0.27 today. It is now trading at $0.63. It is unfortunate to see GM's market cap being shrunk to 365.48 million.


According to CNN, General Motors, (GM) and Citigroup, (C) will be replaced in Dow Jones Industrial Average by Cisco (CSCO) and Travelers Co. (TRV), respectively.

Now comes the ISM Manufacturing Index for May. The number came in line with the expectations, still lower than 50, at 42.8. However, this number is much better than the previous April reading of 40.1.

Surprisingly, construction spending had an 0.8% increase which was much better than the consensus. The March reading was 0.4% increase.

Futures vs Fair Value

S&P futures vs fair value: up 14.60%. Investors Friday were eager to get in the market in the last minutes before the closing bell. Just like now, the pre-market activity also suggests positive outlook for the day. The decision of GM's reorganization and possibility of Chrysler's coming out out of it were received as good news among investors. Also, European Bourses reacted the PMI data favorably.

In this weeks calendar there are number of market movers, two of which is due today. At 8.30AM we have Personal income and outlays followed by the ISM Mfg Index at 10 AM. The Employment situation is due at 8.30 AM on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Personal income data just came out. The numbers beat the consensus. The consensus suggested a negative growth by 0.2%, however personal income increased during April by 0.5%. It beat not only the consensus but also the March's 0.2% decrease. With this great news, S&P futures added another two points, now up 16.6%. On the other hand, personal spending decreased by 0.1% which is better than the 0.2% that was widely expected.

Now the eyes turned to the ISM Mfg Index, which is a monthly survey of purchasing managers , that takes place in 50 states covering over 300 manufacturing firms.