The Deliberate Ascent Continues

Dec 6, 2016 | Market Commentary

Friends

Another quiet day of trading with very little volatility. It appears that we are in a holding pattern at the moment. Yes, stocks are easing higher for the most part in the market averages, but it doesn’t feel like with much conviction. We had another good economic number as Factory orders came in as expected with the durable goods portion of the number showing strength.

As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 35 points to finish the day at 19,251. The S&P 500 was up 7 points to close at 2212. Gold was down $6 to trade at $1,170 per ounce, while oil was down $1.04 to trade at $50.75 per barrel WTI.

 

As mentioned, we continue to get decent to good economic data as we head into next week’s Fed meeting. Stocks continue to drift upward as the bulls continue to add deliberately to the Trump surge. At the moment any small dip that does occur seems to be snapped right up by under-invested money managers as the year end nears. Have we set a course for the remainder of the year? We will see.

 

Have a nice evening everyone.

Recent Posts

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Friends The weakness in tech/AI stocks continues and the market averages, especially the Nasdaq, continue to lose ground as we get closer to year end. Instead of taking a victory lap the stocks that have been the leaders all year long are now cowering nervously in the...

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Friends This morning’s release of the November non-farm payroll number showed that 64,000 new jobs were added, which was better than analysts had expected. The unemployment rate did tick up to 4.6%, which was actually more than expected. It’s hard to determine if this...

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Friends Today was pretty much the same script we have seen over the past couple of weeks. The AI/big tech names came under selling pressure enough to take the market averages into negative territory. It’s hard to read too much into recent market action as we are so...