Friends
Word overnight that trade talks with China will occur in October was enough of a match to light the fuse of a nice rally in stocks. The early surge in share prices was able to be maintained throughout the trading session and by the close the S&P was within an earshot of all-time closing highs. Of course, trade headlines can work both ways, so it is difficult to get too worked up about the announcement that both sides are willing to talk next month, but this is the world we live in now, and as market watchers we acknowledge that, at least in the short run, markets are affected by these headlines.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 372 points to finish the day at 26,728. The S&P 500 was up 38 points to close at 2,975. Gold was down $33 to trade at $1,526 per ounce, while oil was down $.08 to trade at $56.18 per barrel WTI.
All eyes will be on the jobs report in the morning. Today’s ADP private payroll number was much better than last month’s, and the non-farm payroll number estimate for tomorrow is that about 170,000 new jobs were created in August. Let’s see how the jobs report is received and how the week finishes out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
