Friends
Once again, we continue the pattern of one day up and then the next day down. This week we have seen a down Monday followed by an up Tuesday, a down Wednesday and today an up Thursday. Underneath the seesawing action, though, we have seen some deterioration in several sectors, so we will be curious to see if we get an effective rotation here soon or will some sectors just continue to break down while others continue to be stretched. After Japan reiterated their “punch bowl” central banking policy, stocks looked to be poised to have a nice up opening, but the weekly jobless claims number was awful and stocks spent the early part of the day trying to decide which direction to head.
By the end of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 55 points to close at 14,606. The S&P 500 was up 6 points to finish the day at 1559. Gold was down a fraction to trade at $1552 per ounce, while oil was down $1.15 to trade at $93.30 per barrel WTI.
The market is looking for somewhere close to 200,000 jobs to have been created in March, but this week’s somewhat dreary parade of disappointing economic numbers may indicate that tomorrow’s number could come in somewhat shy of expectations. We have expected that this number should dictate the direction of markets for the coming week, and then we begin earnings season, which will either vindicate stock prices or set the groundwork for a pullback. We’ll be watching.
Have a nice evening everyone.
