May Day

Good morning. Premarket futures are mixed to slightly higher as we start a brand new month. The first trading day in May has historically been a positive one as the Dow has managed a gain in 7 of the last 8 years.

Economic data is going to be a big focus over the next five trading days and this morning is no different. Ahead of the reports on construction spending and the ISM at 10:00AM, March personal income rose +0.8%, above forecasts of +0.4%, while personal spending rose +0.6%, also higher than expectations of +0.4%. More notably, the core PCE deflator (an inflationary measure) rose +0.3%, which was slightly higher than forecasts and the largest gain since last October. Both oil prices and gold are trading higher this morning. Investors also seem to be focusing on the fact that Wal-Mart (WMT) reported better than expected April same-store sales growth particularly since we're scheduled to hear from a lot of retailers this week.

Stocks moving in premarket trading include NAPS, AVL, EEEI, LBIX, HL, GIGM, DXPE, NXG, SILC, TEVA, HAUP, DWSN, CVM, OTD, ESLR, WMT, LVLT, ONNN, TZOO, BOOM, YHOO, CSCO, & NWRE. Have a great May day!