STOCKS GO NOWHERE AFTER BULLISH US DATA: Here's What You Need To Know

Sam Ro | Dec. 15, 2011, 4:00 PM | 959 | 5

Lots of economic data today, and almost all of it was pretty great.

First, the scoreboard:

Dow: 45.3 pts, 0.4%
S&P 500: 3.9 pts, 0.3%
NASDAQ: 1.7 pts, 0.1%

And now, the top stories:

It was relatively quiet overseas. But there was a trend of rosier-than-expected measures of economic sentiment coming from all corners of the world. It started in China where the HSBC Flash Manufacturing PMI number improved to 49 from 47.7 in November. The Markit Eurozone Composite PMI unexpectedly increased to 47.9 in December, defying economists' expectation for the number to fall to 46.5.
The good feeling continued in the U.S. where initial jobless claims fell to 366k, the lowest level in over three years! Economists were expecting 390k. CITI: These 6 Trends Should Make You A 'Raging Bull' On America >
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey index jumped to 9.53 in December, beating the estimate of a modest increase to 3.00. The Philly Fed's manufacturing index jumped to 10.3, blowing past economists' estimate of 5.0.
In other notable economic data, producer prices climbed 0.3%, which was slightly higher than the 0.2% expectation. The increase was driven by higher energy prices. Industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.2%; economists were expecting a 0.2% increase.
FedEx, arguably the mother of all global economic bellwethers, announced quarterly earning that topped analysts' FedEx. "“With the healthy growth in online shopping this holiday season, demand is increasing for these residential delivery services,” said CEO Fred Smith. This was welcome following a string of warnings from companies like Texas Instruments, DuPont, Intel, and 3M. FedEx closed up 8.0%.
In IPO news, fashion house Michael Kors went public today. Shares priced at $20 last night, but opened at $25 this morning.
Diamond Foods, the beleaguered maker of nuts, is now being investigated by the SEC regarding the way it pays its walnut suppliers. Shares fell 5.6%.
Research In Motion is announcing quarterly earnings this afternoon. Expectations don't seem very high. Follow the release live at Business Insider >
Don't Miss: JP MORGAN: These Are The 28 Best Stocks For 2012 >