Friends
As the transfer of power played out in Washington, D.C. and on our television sets today, stocks continued to push to new all-time highs. Again, the big winners were the large cap growth names that dominated the market averages last year including Apple, Amazon, Google, Netflix and Facebook. Although it is still very early in this earnings season, so far the numbers have been good and the bulls seem pleased.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 257 points to finish the day at 31,188. The S&P 500 was up 52 points to close at 3,851. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 260 points to close at 13,457. Gold was up $30 to trade at $1,870 per ounce, while oil was up $.30 to trade at $53.28 per barrel WTI.
Though investors always have to keep an eye on the political scene, we might now be able to turn our attention to this earnings season we find ourselves in. Monetary policy as dictated by the Fed is “all in” and soon we will have a firmer grasp of coming fiscal policy. But, the stock market is made up of companies, and how those companies are performing can either justify or call into question the price levels of their stocks. We’ll be sinking our teeth into all of it in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.