Sense on Cents

End of quarter trading is often skewed with many fund managers buying winners and selling losers so as not to have to report those holdings in quarterly reports. Additionally, the market often finds reason to trade up on the last day of a quarter to “put a happy face” on a whining child.

The first day of the new quarter brings us a reversion to previous tough economic news. On the labor front, I commented yesterday in my March 2009 Market Review that a seeming stabilization in the labor market was a positive. That rug got pulled out from under investors this morning. ADP reports that jobless claims are rising from the 650k range to 742k. That 15% increase in projected unemployment is weighing on the market.

Additionally, investors should not view the relaxation of the mark-to-market accounting rule as a positive for the market. The WSJ reports this morning: (more…)