The past three months of job growth has been the fastest since 2006. This is a huge boost to the psyche of the recovery, and to the President’s reelection campaign. Trade gap data with China also showed a trade gap of over 25 billion dollars.
Job gains for January were also revised higher, from 243k to 284k. This was the biggest one-month total since the recession ended.
One takeaway from this. Any expectations of QE3 just got shoved out of the window. The catalyst for that will have to be severe now.
Europe also responded positively to the news that the a majority of Greek debt holders agreed to the the bond-swap offer. Juncker also commented that Greece meets the terms for its second bailout. The question remains, when does the third bailout clamoring begin in earnest? Because its 4Q GDP was revised lower from -7.0 to -7.5. So whatever targets they think they are going to hit budgetary just flew out the window.
Commodities are reacting to the overall bullish move on the street. Nymex crude futures are up 32 cents to $106.90. Regardless of what the NFP says or any other data, if this number keeps climbing the recovery euphoria is for naught. Unless the 1% thinks the 99% cna afford $5 gas nationwide then they are truly delusional.
Gold prices are off slightly this morning. The metal is down just over $6 to $1,691.90
Stocks to watch today include Vermillion Inc. (NASDAQ:VRML) Renren Inc. (NYSE:RENN), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX), Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR), Frontline Ltd. (NYSE:FRO) and Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI).
Vermillion, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRML) is down 0.97% in pre market trading at $2.05. VRML has trades 428 thousand shares a day on average. VRML was downgraded yesterday by Ladenburg Thalmann to sell from neutral. The company has a market cap of 30.75 million.
Renren Inc. (NYSE:RENN) is up 6.54% in pre market trading at $5.70. RENN has traded about 80 thousand shares so far today and trades 8.2 million shares a day on average. RENN posted a profit in the fourth quarter and also forecasted revenue of $28 to $30 million for the current quarter. The company has a market cap of 2.10 billion.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is up 3.65% in pre market trading at $52.21. SBUX trades 5.1 million shares a day on average. SBUX announced today it plans to launch a single-cup coffee machine that would compete with Green Mountain. The company has a market cap of 37.95 billion.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP) is up 6.81% in pre market trading at $27.75. MCP has traded 110 thousand shares already today and 3.7 million shares a day on average. Molycorp announced this morning it will buy Neo Material Technologies for $1.3 billion. The company has a market cap of 2.18 billion.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) is down 14.66% in pre market trading at $53.21. Green Mountain shares are tumbling this morning following Starbuck’s announcement of launching a single-cup coffee machine. GMCR has traded 421 thousand shares so far today and trades 5.5 million shares a day on average. The company has a market cap of 9.66 billion.
Frontline Ltd. (NYSE:FRO) is up 1.96% in pre market trading at $5.20. FRO shares have been bouncing back after dropping earlier this week. FRO trades 1.8 million shares a day on average. The company has a market cap of 397.08 million.
Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) is up 1.53% in pre market trading at $2.23. SIRI has traded 554 thousand shares already today and trades 53 million shares a day on average. SIRI shares are up about $0.10 over the past two days. The company has a market cap of 8.62 billion.