A Lump Of Coal

Dec 30, 2015 | Market Commentary

Friends

Just as the sellers seemed to have disappeared yesterday, the buyers appear to have closed the books on 2015. It wasn’t so much that there was a strong selling emphasis as there just didn’t seem to be any buyers around. Subsequently, stocks drifted further into negative territory as the day wore on. Santa appears to have left us a lump of coal.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 117 points to finish the day at 17,603. The S&P 500 was down 15 points to close at 2063. Gold was down $8 to trade at $1059 per ounce, as the precious metal is finishing off another miserable year for the gold bugs. Oil was down $1.19 to trade at $36.68 per barrel, also capping off another dreadful year for black gold.

It appears we won’t be able to declare the year a positive or negative one for the market averages until tomorrow’s close. Yes, we have a full day of trading tomorrow (thanks NYSE), but it’s unlikely there will be too many willing participants. That sometimes makes for a strange day of trading. We’ll let you know how the year finishes out tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.

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