Friends
Stocks drifted aimlessly for most of the trading session as neither the bears nor the bulls seemed interested in making a stand today. After yesterday’s sell-off, the bears looked to have the upper hand as early morning futures showed another potential down opening. With a light economic calendar, and no headline grabbing global developments, traders were able to catch their breath a bit today.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13 points to finish the day at 16,443. The S&P 500 was up a fraction to close at 1920. Gold was up $22 to trade at $1307 per ounce, while oil was down $.42 to trade at $96.96 per barrel WTI.
Earnings season is winding down, and by all accounts it has actually been rather good. Yes, much of the earnings gains have been achieved via financial engineering, but we at least did see some revenue gains this quarter. That needs to continue if another leg of this bull market is to unfold. The main driver for stock prices over the past 5 years has been supportive monetary policy. We are going to need the economy to produce corporate profits and revenue gains to justify today’s stock prices (not to mention to see prices rise in the future).
Let’s see what Mr. Draghi and the ECB have in store for us tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
