Thursday Randomosity

• Chinese IPOs falling flat.  $RENN and $NQ falling flat this week.
• Oil falls $10 and falls below $100 a barrel. A 9% drop today!    Basically, this is reflecting a drop off in demand, as I mentioned in the podcast/audioboo yesterday.  Folks are spending money on other stuff and ridesharing (or something).  Maybe it’s the unemployment going up again that is taking cars off the roads.
• Unemployment claims reach 8-month high.  Yeah, a 23% spike in unemployment applications.
• Meanwhile, silver is already about $16 off it’s high – $50.
• Bottom line, there has been a big drop in commodities this past week.
• The funny thing, sorta, is that this week was supposed to be bullish, right?  First week in May during the third term of the Presidential cycle.  Nope.  Hey, it’s just a trend, not a sure thing.
• Sell in May seems to be working.
• One curious thing is that the Nasdaq is outperforming the DOW.  Usually, the NDX leads the Nasdaq, the Nasdaq leads the SP500, and the SP500 leads the DOW – in both directions.  So it’s a bit strange that the DOW is leading here.
• Lakers down 0-2.  It looks ugly for them.  They should’ve easily won game 1, but didn’t.  Dallas took game 2.  Now it’s off to Dallas.