Friends
Stocks made a gallant effort to capture the Dow 20,000 level throughout the afternoon portion of the trading session (coming within a couple of points), but the bulls just couldn’t mount a final surge to finish the job. This morning’s jobs number was a little light, but not really surprising as the number has been trending slightly negatively over the last several months. Nevertheless average hourly earnings continue to rise and in general the country’s employment situation is comparatively strong.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 64 points to finish the day at 19,963. The S&P 500 was up 8 points to close at 2277. Gold was down $8 to trade at $1,172 per ounce, while oil was down $.08 to trade at $53.68 per barrel WTI. Nat Gas was virtually unchanged trading at $3.275.
Now we will turn our attention to corporate earnings as companies will begin to report next week. Over the next few weeks we’ll get an idea if corporate America is priced right or have stocks gotten extended. Of course we have a Presidential inauguration during that time frame also, and politics are clearly on the minds of market participants. We’ll keep you up to date on all the proceedings.
Have a great weekend everyone. Stay warm.
