Friends
Stocks continue to charge towards the 20,000 level on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as even the bulls are having trouble believing their good fortune. It appears that no one wants to sell anything before year end that would cause a capital gain, given the possibilities that next year will see capital gains tax rates reduced. Stocks traded higher for the entire trading session today with no real signs of faltering. Interestingly, there are different sectors leading the way each day. Energy was yesterday’s leader and technology was today’s. It’s as if we are experiencing rotation on a daily basis.
By the close, the Dow was up 114 points to finish the day at 19,910. The S&P 500 was up 14 points to close at 2271. Gold was down $5 to trade at $1,160 per ounce, while oil was down $.02 to trade at $52.81 per barrel WTI. Nat Gas was down $.044 to finish trading at $3.463.
Today was day one of the two day FOMC meeting, so we’ll get the Fed statement and Yellen press conference tomorrow afternoon. Again, the markets are expecting a quarter point rate hike in the Fed Funds rate. This appears to be a done deal, and any deviation from it might cause some concern in the markets. The Fed could indicate the desire to ramp up the rate hikes as we go forward, or they may just say that this is another one and done for a while. I’d bet on the language being a little more hawkish. We’ll let you know how it plays out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
