Friends,
Of course, last week was the worst of the year for stocks. Thanks Jim. Stocks did try to stage a comeback today with the Dow up more than 370 points in early trading. But all those gains basically evaporated as the trading session wore on. I’m still on the road this week so the bulls have their work cut out for themselves. The trouble that the bulls have run into, again, is that inflation is remaining stubborn which likely means the Fed will remain stubborn.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 72 points to finish the day at 32,889. The S&P 500 was up 12 points to close at 3,982. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 72 points to close at 11,466. Gold was up $7 to trade at $1,824 per ounce, while oil was down $.71 to trade at $75.61 per barrel WTI.
The Fed is surely going to raise rates at the March FOMC meeting and now market participants are thinking it might be more than the quarter point that had been expected. Whatever the case, inflation remains an issue as the economy continues to remain remarkably stable. At least the bulls pulled out a win today. Let’s see how the week plays out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim
