Friends
Well, 2012 starts out with a bang. Of course, quite often the first day of trading in the New Year is up big, so we won’t get too excited just yet (last four have all been up better than 1%). But hey, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up a nice 179 points to close at 12,397. The S&P 500 broke out well above its 200 day moving average to finish the day up 19 points to close at 1277. Gold was up nice finishing the day up $38 to trade near $1605 per ounce at the close. Oil rocketed up over $4 to finish near $103 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front, the December ISM number was 53.9 (slightly above expectations and the best in six months) vs. 52.7 in November (the higher the better) and Construction Spending was up 1.2% in November vs. .02 in October. Once again, the domestic economy is making small but positive gains even with the backdrop of recession in Europe.
No, the first day of trading does not a year make, but we’ll take it anyway. Hope everyone had a great holiday season. Let’s hope 2012 gets off to a good start.
Have a nice evening everyone.
