Friends
Stock futures were looking sluggish this morning until Mr. Putin indicated in a prepared statement that he had no intentions on going beyond Crimea and moving into Eastern Ukraine. He indicated he still doesn’t recognize the current Ukrainian government as being legitimate, but the markets are taking it one step at a time. Of course, why wouldn’t we take the word of this solid citizen of the world community? Regardless, stocks rallied once again on a sigh of relief and stayed in positive territory throughout the session.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 88 points to finish the day at 16,336. The S&P 500 was up 13 to close at 1872. Gold was down $17 to trade at $1355 per ounce, while oil was up $1.53 to trade at $99.61 per barrel WTI.
The FOMC meeting will conclude tomorrow and we’ll get the official statement and a Janet Yellen press conference in the early afternoon. Will there be any changes in the tapering schedule (hope not)? Will the Fed move the goal posts in terms of the unemployment rate target (wouldn’t surprise us)? How will Ms. Yellen perform in her first presser? Should be an interesting day. We’ll let you know how it turns out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
