Friends
Another wild day of trading, as stocks went from up 100 Dow points in early trading to down over 230 Dow points by early afternoon. In the last hour of trading stocks did try to make it back to the break even mark only to fall back in the final minutes to a triple digit Dow loss by the close. Yes, oil was down again, as WTI is now trading with a 4 handle, and now calls for it to drop to the 30’s and even the 20’s are starting to make the rounds.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 130 points to finish the day at 17,371. The S&P500 was down 18 points to close at 2002. Gold was up $15 to trade at $1219 per ounce, while oil was down $1.98 to trade at $48.07 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front the ISM non-manufacturing and factory orders numbers continued the woeful streak of data that we have seen recently, adding to the deflation argument. Indeed, the U.S. was supposed to be the beacon of economic growth as the rest of the world seems to be contracting. We’ll get the ADP employment number tomorrow and the all-important jobs number on Friday, both very important considering the recent string of bad economic data.
Let’s see how the rest of the week plays out. So far, volatility (mostly in a negative direction) is ruling the day.
Have a nice evening everyone.
