Friends
Stock futures sold off overnight after the announcement that the U.S. has readied $200 billion worth of tariffs for Chinese goods that would begin later in the year. As markets opened down this morning, market participants were also greeted with footage of the President not playing nice at the NATO meetings. For a week now, trade war fears had been suppressed as traders kept up the buying pressure. Down 3/4 of a percent is not anything for the bears to get excited about, but trade war fears did appear to finally unsettle the markets, at least for today.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 219 points to finish the day at 24,700. The S&P 500 was down 19 points to close at 2,774. Gold was down $12 to trade at $1,242 per ounce, while oil was down a whopping $3.35 to trade at $70.82 per barrel WTI.
This morning’s PPI was a little bit on the hot side, so it will be interesting to see what tomorrow’s CPI number has in store for us. Inflation seems to be picking up just a bit and if trade tariffs really take effect, the inflation pressures might increase. Surely, something to keep an eye on.
Have a nice evening everyone.
