Friends
Stocks began this very busy week on the negative side of the ledger, and once again, given the extended rally we have seen lately, it is really no surprise. Besides the political theater, which just gets crazier by the day, we have a major week of earnings reports ahead, not to mention a Fed meeting which begins tomorrow. So traders being a little tentative here at the beginning of the week seems logical.
As for today’s action, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 77 points to finish the day at 18,493. The S&P 500 was down 6 points to close at 2,168. Gold was down $6 to trade at $1,316 per ounce, while oil continues its decline with WTI down $1.10 to trade at $43.09 per barrel.
We don’t expect anything earth shattering to come out of the FOMC meeting, but of course, you never can say for sure. More important will be the deluge of earnings reports this week. By the end of the week we will have a pretty good read on 2nd quarter earnings and 3rd quarter expectations. Are current share prices accurately portraying where we stand earnings wise? We’ll have a better handle on that answer shortly. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
