Friends
The stock market added to yesterday’s gains today, as the fears that market participants were waiting for the calendar to turn over to sell winners and put pressure on the market has begun to dissipate. The theory was that individuals were waiting to take gains until the new year so as to not have to pay gains in 2016, which might carry a higher capital gains tax rate than 2017 (if the Trump & Co. are able to pass tax reform). It’s only two days, but the massive selling has not materialized- yet anyway.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 60 points to finish the day at 19,942. The S&P 500 was up 12 points to close at 2270. Gold was up $1 to trade at $1,163 per ounce, while oil was up $.79 to trade at $53.12 per barrel WTI. Nat Gas was down $.073 to finish trading at $3.254.
The Fed minutes were released today and the take away is that the committee still is taking a wait and see approach to monetary policy. The committee did note however that there was risk that growth could be stronger given potential fiscal stimulus, and that could put pressure on inflation. Any hints that inflation was going to be stronger than expected could promote the thoughts that rates will need to rise quicker. But it’s way too early to deal with all that, so we’ll leave it for another day. As mentioned yesterday, next up is earnings season.
Have a nice evening everyone.
