Friends
I guess the bears got too big for their britches yesterday. After the Dow and the S&P posted their worst day of the year, the bears were roaring, assuming that the stress in Europe would surely continue and that the bulls would be running for the hills. Umm, I think not. The bulls came back out swinging today and buoyed by a decent ISM non-manufacturing number, took stocks higher right from the opening bell. As we indicated yesterday, there is nothing wrong with a little profit taking. We have had a nice advance for sure, so periodic down days when traders decided to sell a few things doesn’t mean that a collapse is imminent. Measured optimism with a little bit of skepticism seems to be appropriate as we move forward. As we have said for many years now, we don’t predict market movements (that’s a losers game), we simply attempt to position to take advantage of the direction we are heading and protect against sudden changes in that direction.
As for the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 99 points to close at 13,979. The S&P 500 was up 15 points to finish the day at 1511. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1673 per ounce, while oil was up $.53 to trade at $96.70 per barrel WTI.
It was nice to get the S&P back above 1500. The Dow is back within shouting distance of 14,000 (could Dow 14,000 become a little bit of a resistance level now?). Don’t get too comfy though. Volatility seems to be picking up and that is not that unusual. We had been very deliberate in the price movements for some time. A little more action would not surprise us. Let’s see who carries the day tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
