Friends
It was more of a mixed day today for stocks, with the Nasdaq led by tech still weak, while consumer staples helped keep the Dow and the S&P more neutral. I guess you could identify today’s action as rotation, but the movement into staples seemed more like a flight to safety than a call on their growth prospects (indeed, most of those shares carry P/E’s north of 20 times.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9 points to finish the day at 23,848. The S&P 500 was down 7 points to close at 2,605. Gold was down $18 to trade at $1,329 per ounce, while oil was down $.60 to trade at $64.65 per barrel WTI.
After 8 years in a row, where the first quarter was up, it looks like we are looking at a negative quarter for Q1 2018. The pattern has been different this year, as we had a smoking hot January only to be followed by a painful February and March. Let’s see how the quarter finishes out tomorrow. Remember, markets are closed Friday.
Have a nice evening everyone.
