Friends
Word of a Russian invasion into Ukraine had the markets on edge before trading began, and in the first hour of trading stocks posted sizable losses. But as the trading session wore on, confusion about the Russian/Ukraine headlines and decent economic data seemed to bring buyers back into the fray. Stocks remained in negative territory for the entire session, but the damage was mitigated.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 42 points to finish the day at 17,079. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to close at 1996. Gold was up $7 to trade at $1290 per ounce, while oil was up $.74 to trade at $94.62 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front, the 2nd quarter GDP was revised upward just slightly, coming in at a tasty 4.2% growth in the quarter. The jobless claims number remained under 300,000 for the week, so the positive trend continues there, and finally Pending Home Sales were better than expected, showing a continuing rise.
Tomorrow is likely to be a very slow trading day, volume wise, as many traders look to take advantage of the last holiday weekend of the summer. We’ll let you know how the week ends.
Have a nice evening everyone.
