STOCK MARKET RECAP

Stocks Rise, Energy Leads, Oil Surges

A steep pre-open sell off on rumors of an Obama announcement that further stimulus is needed to kick start the economy was quickly erased as the oil inventory report was released. The report indicated that stockpiled crude decreased by more than 8 million barrels. Traders took this as a signal that the economy must be improving to use that much fuel triggering a buying frenzy. The DJIA soared +61.22 to 9279.16, the Nasdaq advanced +13.32 to 1969.24 and the broad based S&P 500 added +6.79 to 996.46.

Occidental Petroleum (OXY | Chart | News | PowerRating) added 2.92% or $2.03 to $71.53/share as the energy sectors was bolstered by soaring crude prices.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL | Chart | News | PowerRating) was raised to outperform by Sanford Bernstein climbing 6.35% or $1.07 to $17.91/share.

Deere & Co (DE | Chart | News | PowerRating) beat third quarter profit estimates but provided less than expected fourth quarter estimates sending shares down by 2.91% or $1.31 to $43.78.

Cigna (CI | Chart | News | PowerRating) Credit Suisse cut its rating to neutral knocking the stock down 1.19% or 35 cents to $29.12/share.

Oil surged $3.23 to $72.22 pushing above the $70.00 resistance level, gold eased higher by $5.60 to $944.80 and the VIX fear index advanced 0.31% to 26.26 after trading as high as 28.14 intraday.

Economic News

Empire Manufacturing (Aug): Consensus: 3.00, Prior: -0.55 Net Long-Term TIC Flows (Jun): Consensus: $17.5B, Prior: -$19.8B Building Permits (Jul): Consensus: 576K, Prior: 570K Core PPI (Jul): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.5% Housing Starts (Jul): Consensus: 598K, Prior: 582K PPI (Jul): Consensus: -0.2%.0B, Prior: 1.8% Crude Inventories (08/14): Consensus: NA, Prior: +2.52M Initial Claims (08/15): Consensus: 553K, Prior: 558K Leading Indicators (Jul): Consensus: 0.6%, Prior: 0.7% Philadelphia Fed (Aug): Consensus: -2.0, Prior: -7.5 Existing Home Sales (Jul): Consensus: 5.00M, Prior: 4.89M