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Michael Kelley/Business Insider
The PMI and ISM reports are off to a good start.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,280, +66.7, +0.5%

S&P 500: 1,406, +7.9, +0.5%

NASDAQ: 3,050, +4.8, +0.1%

And now the top stories:

  • The beginning of a new month brings us purchasing managers indices (PMI) from around the world.  Last night, China reported that their official PMI number climbed to 53.3. This is up from 53.1 from a month ago.  However, this was below the 53.6 economists were looking for.  Also in Asia, South Korea's exports fell 4.7 percent versus the 1.0 percent increase economists were expecting.  These are both indicators favored by Goldman's Jim O'Neill.  

  • UK's PMI fell to 50.5 from 51.9 a month ago.  This missed economists' forecast calling for 51.5.  New orders came in particularly weak.  All of this left us wondering if the global economy was rolling over.

  • April's U.S. ISM manufacturing report unexpectedly jumped to 54.8 from 53.4 a month ago.  Economists were expecting the number to decline to 53.0.  This bullish read on the U.S. economy overshadows the disappointing March construction spending number which climbed just 0.1 percent versus an expectation for a 0.5 percent gain.

  • Natural gas prices surged again today, which was a boon to the natural gas stocks.  Among the natgas leaders was Chesapeake Energy.  The company announced that CEO Aubrey McClendon would be stepping down as Chairman of the Board and that a new non-executive chairman would be appointed.  They also announced that McClendon would not be compensated in connection to the early termination of its controversial Founders Well Participation Program.

  • All day, the automakers announced their April auto sales numbers.  Overall, the cars were selling at an annualized rate of 14.4 million. However, U.S. auto giants Ford and GM both said sales fell year-over-year.

  • Shares of Herbalife plummeted 20 percent today after Greenlight Capital'  David Einhorn jumped on the earnings conference call and started asking about the company's disclosure practices.

  • Apple was a laggard today on no material news. The stock can't seem to get its momentum legs back.  In other Apple news, Business Insider completed some research and found that the tech giant destroyed 490,000 jobs.