Friends
As the Fed has been bludgeoning the economy with interest rate hikes and quantitative tightening, market participants have been looking for signs that things are cracking. Today, a huge flair was fired into the air as banks that lend to venture capital firms in silicon valley appear to be imploding. These mainly California disasters triggered selling in all regional banks (well, all banks really) and led the market averages in general lower. Should all banks be included in the carnage? No, I don’t think so. The big banks have been amazingly regulated and capitalized over the last decade. But we live in a shoot first, ask questions later world.
As for the market in general, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 542 points to finish the day at 32,256. The S&P 500 was down 73 points to close at 3,918. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 237 points to close at 11,338. Gold was up $16 to trade at $1,835 per ounce, while oil was down $1.21 to trade at $75.45 per barrel WTI.
While we are waiting for tomorrow’s jobs report, silicon valley lending banks decided to blow up. I still think tomorrow’s jobs number combined with next week’s inflation data are what we should keep our eye on. Let’s see how it all plays out tomorrow after the jobs release.
Have a nice evening everyone.
