Friends
No one enjoys stocks going higher than I do, believe me. But labels can sometimes make me uncomfortable. For instance, today we are hearing about the “new bull market”. Yes, it is true that stocks as measured by the S&P 500 are 20% off their lows of last summer. So, by definition we are in a bull market for the S&P 500. Yes, I am thrilled that stocks are nicely higher than they were a year ago. But the label makes me a little uneasy. On January 4th of 2022, the S&P topped out at 4818. Until we get back above the old highs, I hate to declare that we are in a bull market. That’s just me, and once again I am very happy that we are significantly higher than we were a year ago.
Anyway, as for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 43 points to finish the day at 33,876. The S&P 500 was up 4 points to close at 4,298. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 20 points to close at 13,259. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1,974 per ounce, while oil was down $1.02 to trade at $70.27 per barrel WTI.
It’s going to be a big week next week. We get the CPI number on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we get the result of the FOMC meeting. The feeling is that the Fed will pause at this meeting and keep rates where they are for now but most likely will indicate that future rate hikes might still be needed if inflation persists. We’ll get our rest this weekend, so we are ready to bring it all to you next week. Stay tuned.
Have a great weekend everyone.
