Friends
Despite the bulls (are there really any left?) valiant attempt to rally the troops, stocks gave up early gains and seem intent on testing the August lows as we entered the final hour of trading. But a last fifteen minute rally got us back into positive territory by the close. Unfortunately, day after day we seem to lose one of the market stalwarts, those seemingly bullet proof growth companies that now seem to have become a source of funds. It appears that levered market participants are turning to their last winners to raise cash. Interestingly, most of these stalwarts have continued to post stellar earnings reports (see NIKE for instance just recently).
As for today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average did post a 47 point gain to close at 16,049. The S&P 500 was up 2 points to finish the day at 1884. Gold was down $4 to trade at $1127 per ounce, while oil was up $.73 to trade at $45.16 per barrel WTI.
We start to get employment news over the next three days, so perhaps domestic economic data will set the tone for the rest of the trading week. In the meantime we are wrapping up the third quarter, and of course, that means we have earnings season just around the corner. Talk about lowered expectations.
Have a nice evening everyone.
