Inflation? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yesterday saw an up tick in the wholesale price index and an increase in the price of oil. The market reacted expectedly by selling off. This morning, as I write this, the stock futures are all pointing up. So what’s the difference today?

Well after the market close yesterday, Intel reported better than expected (although lower) earnings and said that it was gaining market share back. IBM beat expectations and got an upgrade from Goldman Sachs. Yahoo reported lower than expected revenue but earnings that matched expectations. Yahoo shares were up in after hours trading however as the company announced that its long awaited search technology is now live. Motorola reported lower earnings of 39 cents a share vs last years 69 cents per share; as expected, their shares were trading 8% lower.

This morning saw the CPI number released. The report showed that the CPI was down by an unexpected 0.5%. This is most directly attributed to the fall in the price of oil. The core CPI, however, rose 0.2% which was in line with expectations. Since the Fed is meeting next week, the market took the news as good. The Fed should leave rates alone next week.

Also this morning, JP Morgan blew away their expectations posting earnings of 92 cents vs the 86 cents that analysts were expecting. Look for shares of JPM to take off in early trading.

SCUR managed to hold over $7.00 so we’re happy with that result. CLRK actually slipped below $20.00 yesterday for a brief period but managed to finish over $20.00 closing at 20.24. I’d like to see CLRK gain back all the ground it lost yesterday. Although I like to see the stocks rise, I realize that they can’t keep rising day after day, and so they must take a break when they have come too far too fast.