Friends
The first trading day of June was a classic reversal day. Oil was down early and reversed course, and stocks also were down early (122 Dow points) and reversed course. Were stocks just following in oil’s footprints? Perhaps, at least it appeared so today. A slightly better than expected ISM manufacturing report might have helped stocks make a turnaround, but when strung together the recent economic data points simply seem to lead to more confusion. For every good data point there seems to be at least one bad one. Thus the environment we are dealing with.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2 points to finish the day at 17,789. The S&P 500 was up 2 points to close at 2099. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1,214 per ounce, while oil was up $.08 to trade at $49.19 per barrel WTI.
Trader’s attention will now turn to tomorrow and Friday’s employment reports. Remember, tomorrow we get the ADP private payroll number (guestimates are for about 175,000 new jobs) and Friday we get the non-farm payroll number (guestimates are for about 158,000 new jobs). These reports should be integral to the Fed’s thoughts on rate hikes in the coming months. Let’s see what the numbers are and how the markets react. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
