Friends
The bulls rallied today, and like a scorned pirate took back the losses that they absorbed at the hands of the bears yesterday. News in the afternoon about how the possible size of the European bailout fund (EFSF) could reach $2 trillion, sent the Dow up more than 250 points with an hour left in trading. By the close, the European “news” had been better analyzed and stocks had given back some of their gains as the Dow closed with a gain of 180 points. The S&P 500, which had traded through the 1220 initial resistance, and up to 1233, settled back to close the day up 24 points to the 1225 level. Gold was off most of the day but did recover some to finish the day down about $12. Oil was up over $2 WTI to trade near $88.50 this afternoon.
It was a difficult day for the bears as after yesterday’s drubbing, they surely thought that they had the bulls on the run early this morning when stocks began the day in a weak manner. This morning we had Goldman Sachs announce a loss for the quarter, but Coca Cola, despite currency headwinds, had a nice earnings report. After the close, we got earnings from 3 tech bellwethers; Apple, Intel and Yahoo. Intel’s earnings were good for the third quarter in a row and the beleaguered Yahoo actually had a decent quarter also. Apple’s earnings were just released and at first glance, they actually disappointed (hard to believe), but likely it was because of people waiting to buy the new iPhone 4S. The stock is selling off in the aftermarket, but we’ll have to see what management has to say about their numbers.
In the meantime, we’ll let you know how earnings go for the rest of the week and keep an eye on the circus in Europe for you.
Have a nice evening everyone.
