Friends
Despite a weak retail sales number and a benign CPI number (remember the Fed wants some inflation), stocks enjoyed a surprisingly good day. It was a broad based advance with a lot of green all over my screen. Ironically, despite good earnings from JP Morgan, Citi and Wells Fargo, the banks did not participate. It appears to be a case of the good news already being priced in. Remember, the banks have had a nice move up in the last couple of weeks.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 84 points to finish the day at 21,637. The S&P 500 was up 11 points to close at 2,459. Gold was up $10 to trade at $1,227 per ounce, while oil was up $.52 to trade at $46.60 per barrel WTI.
Earnings season will really start to kick into gear next week, so we’ll see how well priced stocks are over the next few weeks. We expect good numbers, but share prices may already be pricing that in. We will see.
Have a great weekend everyone.
