Friends
I’m not sure if the market actually closed today, or did it just fall asleep? The week ended with two days of very little volatility and very little interest from the trading community. Two major banks reported earnings this morning, one (J P Morgan) was a little better than expected, and the other (Wells Fargo) was a little worse than expected. Other than that, a benign PPI report and a decent consumer sentiment report elicited nothing but yawns from market participants.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a whopping 2 points to close at 13,328. The S&P 500 was down 4 points to finish the day at 1428. Gold was down $13 to trade a $1757 per ounce, while oil was down $.32 to trade at $91.75 per barrel WTI. The S&P did survive a test of the all-important 1425 level around midday, but traders seemed to be waiting to see if this level can hold before making any new commitments. A convincing breach of 1425 would make the S&P susceptible to a move back toward the 1395 area.
We’ll continue to watch these technical levels as well as monitor earnings season as it swings fully into action over the next couple of weeks.
Have a great weekend everyone.
