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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

STOCKS RALLY ON NO NEWS: Here's What You Need To Know, August 7, 2012

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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

It couldn't have been a quieter day.

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 13,168, +51.0, +0.3%
S&P 500: 1,401, +7.1, +0.5%
NASDAQ: 3,015, +25.9, +0.8%

And now the top stories:

A few big stocks made big moves today, including Chesapeake Energy. The beleaguered natural gas giant reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue. However, it was all about outlook for the company. On a conference call with analysts, McClendon reiterated efforts to cut back on supply in an effort to get natural gas prices back up to around $5. Shares of the energy company soared 10 percent today. The World's Biggest Companies Explain What's Happening To The Global Economy >
Consumer credit only grew by $6.5 billion in June, which was well below the $10.25 billion expected by economists. It was also a pretty steep deceleration from the $16.69 billion increase we saw in May. Revolving credit, which includes credit card debt shrank by 5.1 percent. This is yet another bad sign for the already anemic U.S. economy. Expert Explains In Horrifying Detail How The Next Shock Will Shatter The Global Economy >
However, this is not totally bad news for stocks. In a new post on his blog, stock market guru Ed Yardeni argued that a stock market growing faster than its local economy's GDP is sustainable. Yardeni wrote this, directly refuting claims by PIMCO's Bill Gross that this was not economical.
Having said that, there's little doubt that the U.S. economy remains fragile and vulnerable to risks. David Rosenberg, the bearish economist at Gluskin Sheff, identified four major downside risks for growth. See David Rosenberg's Four Horsemen of Risk >
Marc Faber, author of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report is sounding both bullish and bearish today. He thinks stocks could hit new all-time highs this month before collapsing.
Deutsche Bank strategist David Bianco expects the exact opposite of what Faber sees. Bianco thinks that the next 5-10 percent move in the S&P 500 is down before they rally to 1,475 by year end.
Don't Miss: The 12 Most Infamous Economic Conspiracy Theories >