Friends
Stocks were quiet once again today as market participants appear to have hit the pause button temporarily, and most likely for good reason. It wouldn’t hurt if we took a moment to digest the recent surge since the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Also, we are now immersed in this earnings season, so traders would like to see who beats expectations and who doesn’t. Today we got good reports from J&J and Goldman Sachs, but not so good from Netflix. Once again, the financial sector has a very low bar to clear and it appears that they are doing so.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 25 points to finish the day at 18,559. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to close at 2163. Gold was up $2 to trade at $1,332 per ounce, while oil was down $.65 to trade at $44.59 per barrel WTI.
It is very early, but so far earnings season is shaping up a little better than I expected. Once again, it’s not just the earnings report itself, but how the stock responds to the report. For instance, J&J’s shares had risen nicely into the earnings report, which often could result in a “sell the news” type of reaction, but in fact the shares went even higher after the report. Share price reactions will tell the full story of an earnings report. We’ll be looking to see what type of story this market is really telling.
Have a nice evening everyone.
