
GDP surprises to the upside, but weak oil futures going into the weekend negates the benefits
Stronger WTI crude oil futures trade overnight, and the flirting of an upside breakout, had the ES buyers in full bloom. However, the crude rally was rejected by technical resistance and later in the day suffered from a smaller than expected decline in operating rigs in the U.S. Accordingly, the U.S. equity indices failed to hold overnight gains.
On a positive note, the second estimate of second quarter GDP was reported at 1%. Under normal circumstances, this would be a disappointment but in today's sluggish environment it could almost be categorized as a blockbuster report. To boot, personal spending and personal income ticked higher along with the final reading of Michigan Sentiment.
This is the first time, in quite a while, we've seen a string of positive economic data. Until now, the trend has been for good news to be followed by bad. Now that data is firming up we have a hard time believing the S&P will revisit the low 1800s any time soon. Nevertheless, the last few trading days in February are normally weak, so we could see a few days of back and filling before heading higher.