Friends
It was a choppy and somewhat directionless day of trading, as stocks dipped into negative territory early in the trading session, pushed into positive territory midday, only to falter towards the close. There was no real market moving headlines, hence the lack of volatility and direction. But, a few quiet days of trading isn’t a bad thing.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 61 points to close at 31,437. The S&P 500 was down 1 point to finish the day at 3,909. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 35 points to close at 13,972. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1,842 per ounce, while oil was up $.14 to trade at $58.50 per barrel WTI.
Earnings season turned out to be good in general as expectations were often met or exceeded, and share prices were not as egregious as we had feared. Market participants are likely to focus on the success of the vaccine rollout and Covid-19 case counts as we move into the next several weeks. If all goes well, then stocks would have a constructive backdrop to continue higher into the spring. Of course, that’s assuming things proceed in a positive manner. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
