Friends
Stocks finished the month with a volatile day of trading. The Dow was down well over 100 points in early trading, fueled by a weak Chicago PMI number and a lukewarm consumer confidence number, but rallied back to even by late midday. As the afternoon wore on stocks drifted to the downside once again. Today was the last trading day of the month and the quarter, and as we have noted this week, volatility seems to be back in vogue.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 114 points to finish the day at 14,909. The S&P 500 was down 7 to close at 1606. Gold finally bounced a little with the precious metal up $19 to trade at $1231, while oil was down $.55 to trade at $96.50 per barrel WTI.
Well, we now have half of the year in the books, but June was the first month of the year that stocks showed some vulnerability. The story in the second half of the year just might be the bond market. If it settles down some, then stocks might be able to continue on a positive path for the remainder of the year. If bonds become a real problem in the second half, stocks will likely struggle too. Remember, we like rates going up slowly for good reasons. We don’t like rates rising quickly for any reason but especially for the wrong reasons (no one wants our bonds).
Have a great weekend everyone and try to stay cool.
