Friends
Stocks flirted with new highs for the S&P and the Dow for most of the trading session. The S&P did just barely close at 2000, but the Dow could not hold onto its all-time high. Nevertheless, the bears continue to wait for something to derail the advance, while the bulls continue to bid up prices across the board.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 29 points to finish the day at 17,106. The S&P 500 was up 2 to close at 2000. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1283 per ounce, while oil was up $.54 to trade at $93.88 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front, durable goods orders soared in July, but the number was skewed by the aircraft orders. If you take out the aircraft orders, the number was actually down a bit. Case-Shiller showed home prices declining again in July after a similar decline in June (certainly not the case here in The Woodlands), but perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the consumer confidence number that was the best we have seen in years. I am not sure how to explain that, so we’ll just take it for what it’s worth. Among other data points, Thursday we get the revised 2nd quarter GDP number which should be interesting. We’ll let you know how the week progresses.
Have a nice evening everyone.
