Friends
Well that was ugly. While the business news stations focused on the war between internet traders and large hedge funds over a few heavily shorted stocks, the market averages tumbled. Even Microsoft, which had fantastic earnings after the close yesterday, and rallied heavily in after- hours trading, couldn’t hold onto its gains. After the close we will hear from Apple, Facebook and Tesla. That should be fun.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 633 points to finish the day at 30,303. The S&P 500 was down 98 points to close at 3,750. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 355 points to close at 13,270. Gold was down $12 to trade at $1,838 per ounce, while oil was down $.04 to trade at $52.55 per barrel WTI.
So, we’ll see how earnings continue to roll out, but the crazy moves in heavily shorted stocks like GameStop is sucking all of the air out of the room at the moment (and apparently all of the money out of the market). The Fed concluded their FOMC meeting today and Chairman Powell had his press conference. Nothing new there. No change in rates or policy and the Fed remains very concerned about the continued effects of the virus on the economy. Let’s see how today’s earnings play out tomorrow and if the narrative can be diverted from the internet wars. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim
