Friends
Fueled by “not worse than expected” economic numbers out of China last night, and better than expected earnings out of J P Morgan Chase (notwithstanding the potential trading malfeasance), traders decided that they were willing to buy stocks today, after 6 down days in a row. The bears had been feeling pretty good about themselves by yesterday afternoon, and they were certain that J P Morgan was going to help perpetuate the downturn this morning, but once again they got caught leaning a little too hard, and by the afternoon the bulls had them on the run.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished trading up 203 points to close at 12,777. The S&P 500 was up 22 to close at 1356, well above the 50 day moving average and back near the 100 day moving average, which may embolden the bulls early next week. We’ll see. Gold was up $24 to trade near $1589 per ounce, while oil was up $1.13 to trade at $87.21 per barrel WTI.
How about that. After a very difficult first 4 days of trading, we ended the week virtually unchanged (actually just a bit higher). As the Eagles proclaimed in the classic song Hotel California – “they stabbed it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast”. That’s how the bears must feel this week. They had the bulls on the run, but they couldn’t finish the job. More earnings and more fun next week. Stay tuned.
Have a great weekend everyone.
