Friends
Stocks drifted without much conviction today as traders seem to be waiting and focused on tomorrow’s jobs report. The bulls tried to rally the troops at the opening, but those modest gains evaporated by late morning, and as mentioned, the rest of the session was marked by lack of interest. The Chain Store Sales report confirmed the obvious that retailers are struggling, and initial jobless claims did tick up just a bit this week.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 9 points to finish the day at 17,660. The S&P 500 was down less than a point to close at 2050. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1,278 per ounce, while oil was up $.56 to trade at $44.34 per barrel WTI.
Market participants are looking to tomorrow’s non-farm payroll number to see if it might provide enough of a reason to consider a June rate hike. It appears likely that we have not had enough positive economic data, regardless of tomorrow’s number to reverse the Fed’s concerns about domestic and global economic activity. Goodness knows recent corporate earnings aren’t portraying anything very upbeat. Let’s see what the number looks like tomorrow and how the markets react. We’ll let you know.
Have a nice evening everyone.
