Friends
All eyes are on the White House as we wait for word on the “fiscal cliff” summit meeting that the President called for this afternoon. The most likely scenario is that some sort of very short-term band aid will be hashed out, leaving both sides their leverage for a more comprehensive deal that they can work on in the coming weeks. Of course, there is a chance that even if the leaders and the White House agree on something this afternoon, there is no guarantee that anything will actually pass the House of Representatives. We could have some great theater this weekend.
As for the markets, traders continue to be concerned that the politicians will indeed take us over the cliff. After believing that surely there will be something done before year end in the early weeks of December (stocks rallied), traders have been in sell mode for the past week or so, as they now realize that they put their faith in politicians (let’s pause a moment to consider that).
Anyway, for the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 158 points to close at 12,937. The S&P 500 was down 15 points to finish the day at 1402. Gold was down $7 to trade at $1656 per ounce, while oil was down a fraction to trade at $90.79 per barrel WTI. The bulls would surely like the S&P to hold 1400 by year end (Monday), as now 13,000 on the Dow is a distant memory.
We do have one more trading day left in the year and the politicians are still talking so you never know, right? My New Year’s wish will be that hopefully by some point in 2013, we won’t have to be talking about politicians and they won’t be holding our fate in their hands. Too much to ask?
Have a nice weekend everyone.
