Friends
The pullback continues, as stocks suffered losses once again today. The weekly jobless claims number was worse than expected, while the retail sales number was actually a little better than expected. Perhaps we are getting an early look as to how stocks will react once the taper is announced by the Fed. Heck, maybe we’re tapering share prices right now. Whatever the case, the bears have been driving this train, and the bulls seem to have begun an early Christmas vacation.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 103 points to close at 15,739. The S&P 500 was down 6 points to finish the day at 1775. Gold was down big, as the precious metal retreated $31 to trade at $1226 per ounce, while oil was mostly unchanged to trade at $97.42 per barrel WTI.
Interestingly enough, the fall in share prices is somewhat similar to the way prices have risen this year, somewhat quietly and deliberately. No real panic, and at any moment in time the damage doesn’t seem too bad. The problem is, if the bears are able to keep the foot on the pedal, some real damage could start to occur. Of course, traders seem to be focused on next week’s Fed meeting and the possibility that some punch could start to be taken away from the punch bowl.
Let’s see how the week finishes up tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
