Friends
Wow, the bulls caught the bears flat footed on this first trading session of the 3rd quarter, and pushed stocks decisively higher. After 51 trading days without a move of 1% or more, today’s action looked like that streak could be broken. Well that didn’t happen, but the Dow was up .77% while the S&P was up .66%. NASDAQ did rise 1.14%. On the economic front, the PMI Manufacturing Index was strong, while the ISM Manufacturing Index was just ok (but the new orders component was strong). Construction spending rose modestly, but less than hoped for.
As it was, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 129 points to finish the day at 16,956. The S&P 500 was up 13 points to close at 1973. Gold was up $5 to trade at $1327 per ounce, while oil was up a fraction to trade at $105.40 per barrel WTI.
A terrific start to the quarter for the bulls. Perhaps, the bears had their chance to break the bull’s spirit in the second quarter (you know sell in May…) and couldn’t get it done. Today is just one day, of course, but I think the upward move caught many market participants by surprise. Let’s see if the bulls can build on this day and drive prices higher. Remember, Thursday is jobs report day, and earnings season will begin shortly. As I said, it’s a shortened holiday week, but potentially full of action.
Have a nice evening everyone.
