Oil was lower for the sixth day in a row with growing concerns over Britain leaving the EU. Brent crude, a global benchmark, has fallen 9% in the last 5 session and trading around $47.50.
More economic data out Thursday including the weekly jobless claims of 277,000 up 13,000 from the prior week. A better gauge, the 4 week moving average decreased by 250 to 269,250.
Another gauge on employment, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 0.2% in May, below the 0.3% estimate and 0.4% increase in April. The so-called core, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.2%.
According to the Labor Department, the 0.2% gain in wages offset the 0.2% CPI increase. The increase in real average hour wages are nothing to write home about…or at least not to the Fed, as it only rose 1.4% year over year.
The markets have been down but are well off the low. The major indices broke below support at the 50 day moving averages today. For the S&P 500, there is some support at 2,040 then the 200 day moving average at 2,035. The Dow finds a bit of help at 17,435, then the 200 day moving average at 17,385. The NASDAQ looks worst of all, and has given up the 200 day at 4,818 and is looking for support in the May consolidation range around 4,750. The Russell 2000 is still above its 50 day moving average of 1,132 with the best looking chart of the bunch.
NYSE lagging decliners (73%) are outpacing advancers (24%), but new 52 week highs (61) are beating new lows (40). Dow Utilities are rallying, up 0.67% to a new 52-week high. Gold hit a new 2 year high of $1310 thanks to the Fed and concerns over Brexit.
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