Equity markets are rebounding nicely today as trade tensions subsided.  Advancers outpace decliners 1783/1131 on the NYSE and 1671/1122 on the Nasdaq. Industrials and technology are leading the way higher, while energy, financials and utilities are weak.

As mentioned in this morning’s Hotline Report, rumblings out of NATO has defense stocks moving higher.  Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and L3 Technologies (LLL) are all higher by more than 2%. 

Merger activity in technology has the software/cloud computing sector rallying broadly.  Microsoft (MSFT) continues making new highs as it attempts to top the $800 billion valuation milestone.  A close above $104.12 would give MSFT a market capitalization above $800 billion. 

Lower crude is lending support to the transportation sector.  West Texas Intermediate crude oil is extending yesterday’s drubbing where it was down @ 5%.  The black gold/Texas tea commodity attempted to regain the $71 level early in the session, but it was rejected, and it is now trading down $0.86 (1.22%) @ $69.53 as it probes below $70.   

Initial Claims

Seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims for the week ending July 7, decreased 18,000 to 214,000 exceeding the consensus of 225,000.  This was the lowest reading since the week ended May 5 and confirms recent labor reports that workers continue to be in high demand and employers are hesitant to cut their work forces when qualified labor is difficult to find.  Remember that the July 4^th holiday was included in the data.   A better gauge of comparison is the 4-week moving average, which was 223,000, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week’s average. 

Continuous claims for the week ended June 30 decreased 3,000, while a better reading, the 4-week moving average, increased 9,500 from the prior week’s revised average (+750).