Friends
Stocks continue to sputter into year end. We have now given back the gains achieved after the election in November and are simply limping into year end. In my 40 years of observing markets the sell-off at year end has become more and more common, especially in years that saw the market averages go higher. Funds have already declared their capital gains and are repositioning for the new year.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 418 points to finish the day at 42,573. The S&P 500 was down 63 points to close at 5,906. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 235 points to close at 19,486. Gold was down $10 to trade at $2,621 per ounce, while oil was up $.57 to trade at $71.17 per barrel WTI.
One more trading day left in 2024. As we saw today, the market averages are easily pushed around when there is a lack of participation among investors. Let’s see how the year finishes out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim
