Friends,
We had another nice jobless claims number (two weeks in a row) with the 364,000 number being the best we’ve seen in 3 ½ years. Also, the University of Michigan consumer confidence number beat expectations coming in at 69.9 vs. the 67.7 consensus estimate (the higher the number the better). Traders that are still participating this week seem to have put Europe aside for a few days and we enjoyed our 3rd straight day of gains. Perhaps Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 61 points to close at 12,169. The S&P 500 was up 10 to close at 1254, trying desperately to get to the 200 day moving average. Gold was down $8.20 to close near $1605 per ounce and oil was up $.71 to close near $99.33 per barrel WTI.
Trading should be painfully slow tomorrow and don’t forget the markets are closed on Monday. We’ll see if we can hold the rally for the last 5 trading sessions of the year.
Have a nice evening everyone.
