Friends
Yes, we only have early returns, but so far earnings season is off to a good start with nearly 80% of the companies that have reported so far beating estimates. Again, we still have a majority of companies still to report, so we won’t get too excited just yet. Whatever the case, stocks saw an early bias to the upside this morning and were able to hold onto some gains into the close.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 40 points to finish the day at 18,202. The S&P 500 was up 4 points to close at 2144. Gold was up $6 to trade at $1,269 per ounce, while oil was up $1.02 to trade at $51.31 per barrel WTI.
Today, marks the 29th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1987, commonly known as Black Monday (see the picture attached- I keep my original WSJ from the next morning in my desk to this day). I have reminisced about that day in the past and how it changed my life as an advisor, so I won’t bore you with details again, but I will point out that a narrative that developed after that day was that a recession or even a depression, similar to the 1929 crash aftermath, was now a possibility. In fact, after posting 3.5% growth in 1987, GDP jumped to 4.2% in 1988. So as often is the case, a narrative or common belief did not come to fruition. Always, keep that in mind as we encounter rough seas in the future. Oh, and as a reminder, the Dow plummeted to under 1800 that day. Today it sits over 18,000. Guess it was a generational buying opportunity.
Have a nice evening everyone. Enjoy the debate.
