Daily Market Commentary for May 25, 2011

For all the hockey fans out there, Tampa Bay Lightning are tied 3-3 in the Eastern Conference Finals series, just one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals with the deciding seventh game scheduled for Friday night. (read more at Millennium-Traders.Com)
http://www.millennium-traders.com/news/newscommentary.aspx

In other sports news, David Einhorn, chief executive of Greenlight Capital is close to a deal for a minority stake in the New York Mets to the tune of $200 million. The money is expected to come from Einhorn directly and not from hedge fund assets. Owners of the Mets' are selling a stake in the team to help get them through the tough financial period. The Mets are on track to lose nearly $70 million this year. The team remains in debt to the tune of roughly $500 million and face a lawsuit claiming up to $1 billion from the trustee handling the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's firm.

Weaker than expected jobs forecast as well as in increase of initial claims, set the markets in motion, to the downside. Throughout the morning session, markets teetered in and out of negative territory. Trading action was light ahead of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. Weak GDP figures, higher oil prices and severe weather added to investors ongoing concerns over Greece played a role in the lackluster market. The economy has grown 2.3% over the past four quarters which is slightly below the 2.75% rate expected. Results are the weakest year-over-year growth since Q4 2009. On a positive note, core personal consumption price index increased at a 1.4% annual rate, down from the initial estimate of 1.5%.

Making their IPO debuts today, Spirit Airlines (NasdaqGS: SAVE) shares fell on their first day of trading. Spirit Airlines had priced 15.6 million shares at $12 a share, below earlier estimated range of $14 to $16 per share.

Lone Pine Resources (NYSE: LPR) sold shares more than 38% below expected price range of $18 to $20 per share. Lone Pine offered 15 million shares for $13 per share. Net proceeds of the LPR are about $178 million after expenses.

Tiffany & Company (NYSE: TIF) saw shares host gains of 6 points or 8% into early afternoon trading session after reporting fiscal Q1 profit jumped 26% driven by worldwide demand from Korea to Germany.

First Solar (NasdaqGS: FSLR) shares took a hit today, down 3% by early afternoon trading.

NetApp (NasdaqGS: NTAP) was hosting a gain of 8% or 4 points on the day, into early afternoon trading.

Guess? (NYSE: GES) shares were higher 12% or almost 5 points, into early afternoon trading after reportING better-than-expected Q1 profit and sales.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: CBST) shares gained over 4% into early afternoon trading, amidst speculative merger talks.


International Monetary Fund's chief economist Olivier Blanchard comments: China's Economy not Overheating; China 7% GDP Medium-Term Growth Probably Realistic; Role of QE2 in Capital Flows Minor; Housing Investment in U.S. is Dead; Inflation a Non-Issue in U.S.; Fed to keep rates low well into 2012; Important for Fed to Sustain U.S. Growth.



Economic data released today:

GDP: U.S. 1Q GDP Consensus +2.2%; U.S. 1Q Prelim GDP +1.8% vs. Advance GDP +1.8%; 1Q Corporate Profits +5.9% vs. -3.3% in 4Q; 1Q Prelim Chain-Weighted Price Index +1.9% vs. Advance +1.9%; 1Q Prelim Purchases Price Index +3.8% vs. Advance +3.8%; 1Q Prelim Core PCE Price Index +1.4% vs. Advance +1.5%; 1Q Prelim PCE Price Index +3.8% vs. Advance +3.8%; 1Q Prelim Real Final Sales +0.6% vs. Advance +0.8%.

Initial Jobless Claims: U.S. May 14 Week Jobless Claims Revised to 414K from 409K; U.S. Jobless Claims +10K To 424K in May 21 Week vs. Survey -4K.

Continuing Jobless Claims: U.S. May 14 Week Continuing Claims -46K to 3,690,000.

Bloomberg Consumer Confidence: Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index -48.4 last week.



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