Friends
Spurred on by what the market interpreted as dovish comments by Dr. Bernanke in a question and answer setting after the market closed yesterday, stocks rallied and added to their gains as the session wore on. Though previous comments from the Fed really were no different than what Dr. Bernanke spoke about yesterday, the interpretation yesterday was that the punch bowl will remain full as long as necessary.
For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 169 points to finish the day a 15,460. The S&P 500 was up 22 points to close at 1675. Gold was up $36 to trade at $1283 per ounce, while oil was down $1.87 to trade at $104.65 per barrel WTI.
As we indicated for the last few weeks, the Fed is always insistent that any change in monetary policy will be data dependent. Somehow the market seems to interpret that differently each time Dr. Bernanke talks about it. We continue to want to see good economic activity translate into higher stock prices, not just easy monetary policy. Nevertheless, an advance in stock prices is an advance in stock prices. We’ll take it.
Have a nice evening everyone.
