Friends
After yesterday’s frenzied rally stocks took a breather today, as traders seemed to be wanting to simply catch their breath. The afternoon had a downward bias after the release of the Fed minutes indicated that some of the Fed Governors where suggesting that the Fed’s bond buying policies should be wound down sooner than Dr. Bernanke and his allies seem to want to have happen.
Anyway, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 21 points to close at 13,391. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to finish the day at 1459. Gold was down $24 to trade at $1664 per ounce, while oil was down $.46 to trade at $92.66 per barrel WTI. Keep an eye on the bond market. In just a few sessions, we’ve seen interest rates rise from 1.60% to 1.90% on the 10 year Treasury Note. It doesn’t sound like much, but it has some bond bulls a little concerned.
Stock bulls should be content that after yesterday’s rally, we only gave back a small portion of the gain today. Digesting Monday and Wednesday’s gains is actually quite healthy. Tomorrow we get the all-important non-farm payroll number. Signs are pointing toward a decent number (consensus is 155,000 new jobs created), so it will be interesting to see how the markets react. We’ll let you know how the week finishes up.
Have a nice evening everyone.
