RICHARD DREW
Want evidence of a market suffering from economic-surprise fatigue? Just check out Monday morning's response to the Institute for Supply Management's service-sector index.
The ISM's index, considered a key indicator of U.S. economic activity outside the manufacturing sector, posted a better-than-expected 57.3 for February, up from 56.8 in January. Anything above a 50 signifies growth; a number in the high 50s indicates impressive acceleration indeed. And the service sector makes up more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy, to boot.
And what did U.S. stocks do? They got mildly amused. For about 10 minutes. And then they forgot all about it, and headed south.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 25 points on the news, but within 15 minutes of that high it shed almost 100 points. The S&P 500 followed a similar pattern.
What seems to be the problem? Well, it looks like the markets are more nervous about Greece's bond exchange and China's slowing economy than they are happy about another positive economic surprise out of the United States. Shaky news on both fronts seems to have undermined stocks Monday morning.
Maybe the markets have simply become blase about U.S. economic news. The services ISM is just another in a string of indicators in recent weeks that have shown an improving economic tone; one more on the pile doesn't have much effect anymore.
David Parkinson