Friends
Another day and another failed rally. Once again, the bulls took a run at new highs for the S&P 500 and came up short, as selling kicked in during the afternoon part of the trading session. As we discussed yesterday, bull markets are usually not built on this type of trading pattern. On the economic front, new homes sales surged 9.6% in January, which was quite a surprise, but many believed it was a distorted number (aren’t they all). Nevertheless, stocks once again gave up sizable early gains as the trading day wore on.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 18 points to finish the day at 16,198. The S&P 500 was virtually flat to close at 1845 (after touching 1852 again). Gold was down $13 to trade at $1328 per ounce, while oil was up $.64 to trade at $102.47 per barrel WTI.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen will be testifying before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow, which may provide some direction to trading for the balance of the week. We’ll keep an eye on the testimony and let you know how the markets react.
Have a nice evening everyone.
