Friends
Wow, that might have been the ugliest intra-day reversal I have ever seen in my 41 years in this business. Yesterday’s massive early morning reversal was from negative to positive on the 90-day rumor. Today’s reversal was in the other direction unfortunately. The bulls were feeling pretty good about things this morning as stocks roared higher at the open on news that negotiations were taking place or were soon to take place with some of our trading partners with regards to tariffs. The market averages were sporting nearly 4%- 5% gains midday only to see those gains totally evaporate. We didn’t close on the lows of the day, so there’s that, but the Dow went from up about 1600 points to down 700 points in very short order. The fear that tariffs are scheduled to go into effect tonight, and no new news from the White House, made traders jittery as the trading session wore on.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 320 points to finish the day at 37,645. The S&P 500 was down 79 points to close at 4,982. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 335 points to close at 15,267. Gold was up $22 to trade at $2,996 per ounce, while oil was down $2.58 to trade at $58.12 per barrel WTI.
As we suspected, volatility is going to be the name of the game as the tariff policies unfold. It’s best not to get emboldened on rallies nor distressed during selloffs. This will play out over time but is becoming quite the spectacle in the meantime. For now, we will take it one day at a time.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim
