Continued Confusion

May 9, 2019 | Market Commentary

Friends

Stocks tumbled at the open as fears that tariffs are about to be increased and a deal with China is in peril hovered over the markets. By late morning the Dow was down more than 400 points and the bears were flashing their claws. But, the President once again was able to stem the tide in a brief press conference as he mentioned that despite China’s moving the goal post near the finish line, they are still on schedule to meet and dine, and that he had received a “beautiful” letter from the Chinese President Xi wanting to make a deal.

Stocks erased some of the losses, but by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 138 points to finish the day at 25,828. The S&P 500 was down 8 points to close at 2,870. Gold was up $3 to trade at $1,284 per ounce, while oil was down $.56 to trade at $61.56 per barrel WTI.

We might get some clarity on the trade front tomorrow or over the weekend. Then again, we may not. But, the trade deal with China is what the market is focused on at the moment, and its ramifications are important. Let’s see how the week finishes out tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Recent Posts

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Friends The weakness in tech/AI stocks continues and the market averages, especially the Nasdaq, continue to lose ground as we get closer to year end. Instead of taking a victory lap the stocks that have been the leaders all year long are now cowering nervously in the...

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Friends This morning’s release of the November non-farm payroll number showed that 64,000 new jobs were added, which was better than analysts had expected. The unemployment rate did tick up to 4.6%, which was actually more than expected. It’s hard to determine if this...

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Friends Today was pretty much the same script we have seen over the past couple of weeks. The AI/big tech names came under selling pressure enough to take the market averages into negative territory. It’s hard to read too much into recent market action as we are so...