Friends
After the update that we sent this morning we did get news that the Fed is stepping up to provide liquidity in the treasury markets, and that did cause a very short lived rally in stocks. I say rally, but we simply went from being down more than 9% to being down less than 5%. I guess it’s a good sign that the Fed seems to be willing to step up and provide liquidity, which is vitally important at moments like this, but I still suspect until we get good news on the medical front, other measures will produce little success.
Now, of course we are looking to Congress and the White House to craft a deal that will aid businesses and individuals who will be economically damaged by the virus. Unfortunately, politics might keep that from happening in the near term (although there was some reporting this afternoon that they are talking). But, as we saw back in October of 2008 with the TARP deal, the markets have a way of getting everyone’s attention. If they don’t agree on something soon, the market will let them know how they feel about that. Again, all these measures will help, but as I keep saying, I think we need good news on the medical front to calm everyone down.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2,352 points to finish the day at 21,200. The S&P 500 was down 260 points to close at 2,480. Gold was down $73 to trade at $1,569 per ounce, while oil was down $1.93 to trade at $31.05 per barrel WTI.
We’ve had a chance to talk to many of you over the past week and we appreciate the great support that you give us too. It truly makes us want to work even harder for you. As we’ve said, we are going to get through all of this together. It may get worse before it gets better, but we’ll prevail. Again, if there’s someone you know and love that needs someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to have them give us a call. We’ll let you know how the week finishes out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
