Friends
The bears were unable to build on yesterday’s selloff as stocks were able to partially recover some of the losses in a steady trading session. The inflation/interest rate narrative was disrupted yesterday when the CPI number came in hotter than expected. Not much really changed yesterday though in the big picture and I would add that not much really changed today. It is still likely the next move by the Fed will be to lower interest rates, it’s just the question of when. But as I mused last week, the Fed Chair is now going to be caught between a rock and hard place politically. Whatever he and the committee do between now and the election will be met with disdain from one side or the other. Not an enviable position.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 151 points to finish the day at 38,424. The S&P 500 was up 47 points to close at 5,000. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 203 points to close at 15,859. Gold was down $3 to trade at $2,003 per ounce, while oil was down $1.26 to trade at $76.61per barrel WTI.
Yesterday’s plunge was not unexpected and today’s bounce back wasn’t really either. As I mentioned, not much has changed really. The economy is pretty good, inflation is still a little hot but pretty good, earnings are pretty good, and stocks prices are pretty high (of course not all stocks). That’s the environment we find ourselves in about half way through the first quarter of 2024.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim
