Economic Data Ugly, Futures Weaken Gains

There was a slew of economic data just released, and most of it was uglier than expected, cutting the gains in the pre-market futures. Initial claims for the week ending September 10 came in at 428,000, versus estimates of 411,000. Last week was revised to 417,000. Continuing claims came in at 3.73 million, versus estimates of 3.7 million. September Empire Manufacturing came in at a -8.82 reading, versus estimates of -4.0. August was revised to -7.72. The second quarter current account balance came in at a negative $118 billion, versus estimates of a negative $121.5 billion. August CPI came in hotter than expected, up 0.4% versus estimates of 0.2%. Ex food and energy, it came in at 0.2%, inline with estimates. Year-over-year, CPI is up 3.8%. Ex food and energy, it is up 2.0% year-over-year. Dow futures are now up 23 points, S&P 500 futures are up 2.6 points and NASDAQ futures are up 9.2 points.