5 Gut checks pre open

Need to Know MAY 31, 2013 5 gut checks ahead of the market's open By Barbara Kollmeyer   Nasa Good morning on the last trading day of the month. It's a little dicey out there right now. Stock futures are holding their losses after consumer spending fell slightly more than expected. A manufacturing survey is still ahead. Futures are also getting dragged by month-end taking of profits after a pretty upbeat May. "We haven't had a 'sell in May' since this bull market began," noted Schwab's Randy Frederick as Wall Street  logged another winning session Thursday, putting it on track for a 7th monthly rise.  Preliminary numbers show the S&P 500  up close to 3.6%, the first gains for May since since 2009. Same for the Dow industrials. Will investors now just go away? See below chart of the day for one answer. Big Wave Trading  sees trouble ahead. It notes the last few sessions of trading have seen sellers dominating to push stocks lower at the close. It's  "not desirable for stock bulls. This may turn out to be nothing, but it is something to keep an eye on," says Big Wave. Among the investment banks the feel is largely positive, UBS says the market is overreacting to Fed worries, and Barclays says the recent market correction was a "healthy type of risk-off," and market confidence is coming back. Credit Suisse says the performance by cyclicals isn't over yet: "Our preferred cyclicals continue to be: U.S. corporate-spend plays (focusing on software, advertising agencies, high-end hotels), autos, airlines, U.K. domestic cyclicals and U.S. housing plays." From the bearish side, Jim Rogers  says the gold correction will keep going until it gets scarier, and Bernanke's so-called exit plan may be to just quit. Key market gauges:Japan stocks rose  1.4% on Friday, but spoiled the party on a rally that has lasted nine months. ING says this is all due to the yen, and the Nikkei  is going higher. The Shanghai Composite Index , was the month's best performer with a 5.6% gain in May. It's also looking like the best of the month on a global scale, outside of the Bahrain All Share index. Europe stocks are dropping ahead of U.S. data. The Stoxx Europe 600 index  is off around 0.8%. U.S. stock futures are feeling the pinch, with futures for the S&P 500 index  down 0.5%. Oi l is down after OPEC says it'll hold its output cap at 30 million barrels a day. The economy: Lots of important numbers ahead . Consumer spending dipped 0.2% for April, which was a bigger drop than the 0.1% that was expected. March was also revised down.. Chicago PMI for May should show an improvement on April's number, but still below the 50-mark that signals expansion. That's at 9:45 a.m. Eastern, and then the final reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey for May could make it up to 83.8 -- the best level in more than six years. A smattering of Fed speakers are due as well, with Cleveland Fed's Sandra Pinalto skedded to speak on financial stability at 8:45 a.m., then a bunch will speak over the weekend, including  Bernanke and Vice Chair Janet Yellen. More here . India: The country that puts the 'I" in BRIC, posted fiscal-year growth of 5% , the weakest in a decade. The buzz: Does Apple  hate Japanese people? @howardlindzon is asking after the  company quietly raised its iPad and iPod prices in Japan , blaming a weak yen. Dell  has set a date for a shareholder vote on the buyout bid by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Lions Gate  said it swung to a fourth-quarter profit  a day prior, bumping shares 3.5% in premarket. Guess?  posted a better-than-expected adjusted profit  in the first quarter and shares are up 8% in premarket. AIG  is dropping its case against the New York Fed over whether it has the right to sue over fraud claims. The chart of the day:SeekingAlpha  provides the chart answer to the question 'Is June gloom on the horizon?' (History says yes, a little gloom is coming). Bespoke Investment Group Random reads: For a big corporation, "there's no such thing as ethics." That's Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak , who says in an interview that criticism of the iPhone maker's tax-avoiding strategies is "extremely warranted." Fannie Mae  shares are having a lousy time , but here's a heartwarming tale that begins like this:  "In the cherry-paneled library in his six-bedroom house in Greenwich, Conn"... In case you were worried, Fannie Mae's former CEO is doing awesome ! Now, about those kickbacks ... Can't find a bra that will fit? Jockey International may have solved your problem. Oh so now we know where Psy  got his inspiration. Prancercise:  An 80s exercise fad goes viral. Knaidel: The 'German curse' ends for 13-year old Arvind Mahankali who wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee , getting this word right. He also nailed dehnstufe earlier in the day. 1998 QE2, the 1.7-mile long asteroid that has its own moon is passing by the Earth tonight, at a distance of 3.6 million miles. Concerned? Go ask Nasa . Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: alanrussell@princetoncap.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2013 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111