Friends
The markets continue to be focused on the negotiations going on between the White House and Speaker Pelosi on a new stimulus bill. Every sign of hope sends stocks up and then every dose of reality sends stocks back down. Maybe they will be able to strike a deal but I still remain skeptical at this point. But, as mentioned market participants are laser focused on every headline. In the meantime we will get the all-important jobs report tomorrow morning. Today’s economic data was mixed, but we seem to be able to dismiss any negative data at this point as being temporary in nature.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial was up 35 points to finish the day at 27,817. The S&P 500 was up 17 points to close at 3,380. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 159 points to close at 11,326. Gold was up $16 to trade at $1,911 per ounce, while oil was down $1.58 to trade at $38.64 per barrel WTI.
While the markets continue to hang in there, main street continues to see layoff announcements such as Disney this week. Though many folks are back to work, there are still millions who are not, and thousands of businesses that may not make it, or have already gone out of business. Let’s see what tomorrow’s jobs report tells us and how the trading week comes to an end.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim