Friends
Stocks had a nice bounce back day after yesterday’s less than stellar showing. This morning’s catalyst was more strong retail sales and earnings reports from Target and Lowe’s. Yes, it’s true, not all of retail is doing well at the moment (see Macy’s and JC Penney), but those who are suffering is more about their business model than it is the consumer. The consumer remains engaged, and although I know there are many who would like us to be panicking about the looming recession, the fact is that if you asked a shopper at Target this afternoon about the nearby recession, he/she would probably wonder what you are talking about. But, never underestimate the power that we have to talk ourselves into a recession. The release of this afternoon’s Fed minutes indicated that the FOMC is less than convicted about what to do next, but with dangers of an inverted yield curve, and the damage it could do to future lending, their path seems to be readily clear.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 240 points to close at 26,202. The S&P 500 was up 23 points to finish the day at 2,924. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1,512 per ounce, while oil was down $.35 to trade at $55.78 per barrel WTI.
We have a few more retailers to report, but the major focus will for the rest of the week will be Fed Chair Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole on Friday. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you up to date.
Have a nice evening everyone.
