Friends
Some surprisingly strong economic data and falling oil prices helped stocks recover what they lost yesterday, and then some. The ISM non-manufacturing (services) purchasing managers index showed a surprising rebound in July. June factory orders also came in better than expected. Despite continued hawkish commentary from Fed officials, stocks are actually higher for the week at this point.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 415 points to close at 32,812. The S&P 500 was up 63 points to finish the day at 4,155. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 319 points to close at 12,668. Gold was down $8 to trade at $ 1,781 per ounce, while oil was down $3.46 to trade at $90.96 per barrel. We haven’t seen oil prices this “low” since February.
Market participants will be watching the all-important jobs data on Friday. This week’s JOLTs number showed a decline in openings but there are still many more job openings than people to fill them. Let’s see how we set up tomorrow before Friday’s jobs data. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
