Friends
Stocks looked poised to post a nice gain in the Dow and a modest gain in the S&P 500 as we approached the close of trading, but about 15 minutes before the close, word from the ECB that there is no assurance that the Greece debt situation will be resolved favorably, took the wind out of the sails of the bulls. Stocks had waffled most of the trading session as a total reversal of yesterday’s gains in oil was weighing on the markets. We questioned whether yesterday’s big rally in oil was somewhat of a head fake, and if today’s action is any indication, it just might have been.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 6 points (fueled mainly by Walt Disney shares) to finish the day at 17,673. The S&P 500 was down 8 points to close at 2041. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1264 per ounce, while the aforementioned oil was down $4.27 to trade at $48.78 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front, the ADP private sector employment number came in a little shy of expectations, dampening the enthusiasm for Friday’s government generated non-farm payroll number.
Oil’s massive drop (about 8%) pretty much erased all the gains over the past few trading sessions. That had an unsettling effect on the market and the Greek news didn’t help either. Let’s see how things playout over the rest of the week.
Have a nice evening everyone.
