Friends
Market participants seemed reluctant to get involved today before the weekend of the French elections. On the domestic front President Trump continues to insist that a tax reform plan will be released shortly and that health care reform is also making progress. In addition we continue to get a wave of corporate earnings, and about 75% of the results are beating expectations. So far so good, but we have a couple of heavy weeks of releases ahead of us.
As for today, stocks had little direction, somewhat buoyed by reports of imminent tax reform, but stalled by concerns about the results of the French elections and the future of the European Union. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 30 points to close at 20,547. The S&P 500 was down 7 points to close at 2,348. Gold was up $2 to trade at $1,286 per ounce, while oil was down $1.14 to trade at $49.57 per barrel WTI.
We should know the results of the French election come Monday morning, so that is likely what will be moving markets as the week begins. As mentioned, earnings season is in full force and next week will be chock full of corporate earnings reports. And of course, it will be interesting to see if the White House does indeed reveal its tax plan next week. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you up to date of all the proceedings.
Have a great weekend everyone.
