Friends
The bulls stepped up in today’s trading session, buoyed by the dovish Fed statement from yesterday, a weak dollar and surging oil prices, and went on a buying spree. Minus a weak health care sector, stocks were up across the board with industrials, materials and energy leading the way. With the Fed led by Chair Yellen backing off the “plan” for as many as four rate hikes in 2016, the feeling amongst market participants seems to be, that now, the U. S. is not pushing in the opposite direction of the rest of the developed world which has been implementing extremely accommodative monetary policy.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 155 points to finish the day at 17,481. The S&P 500 was up 13 points to close at 2040. Gold was actually down a little from late yesterday’s surge with the precious metal trading at $1,258 per ounce, while oil was up $1.65 to trade over $40.11 per barrel WTI (first close over $40 for the year).
With today’s gains, both the Dow and the S&P 500 are basically now flat or slightly positive for the year. That is quite a recovery in the past 30 days. Not surprisingly, investor sentiment was at the most negative level we had seen since March of 2009 back in early February. Let’s see if the bulls can finish off the week in style tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
