Friends
After a pretty difficult month for stocks, the bulls were able to get the month of February off to a good start. Market participants appear to be accepting the direction that the Fed is taking, expecting as many as 5 or 6 rate hikes this year (I still need to see that to believe it but if we have 5 or 6 rate hikes hopefully it will be because the economy is booming). Earnings have been good (we get a look at Google, PayPal, GM and Starbucks after the closing bell today), though the share price reactions haven’t been all that good so far.
Anyway, as for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 273 points to finish the day at 35,405. The S&P 500 was up 30 points to close at 4,546. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 106 points to close at 14,346. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1,801 per ounce, while oil was up $.20 to trade at $88.35 per barrel WTI.
Are we going to be able to put January behind us and get stocks back on track? Seasonally, we are entering a time that is usually good for stocks but as we have seen, some of the old Wall Street beliefs just don’t hold anymore. In the meantime, let’s see if the bulls have something going here. The last three trading sessions have been impressive. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
