Friends
After a couple days of rising prices, stocks paused today for a little regrouping. Unfortunately, we got the politicians out of town, but the Fed Chairman was dropping pearls of wisdom at a monitored lunch event, indicating that if the politicians take us over the fiscal cliff, he’s not going to be able to help. Well, at least he’s honest. It used to be when Dr. Bernanke talked stocks rallied, as promises for additional QE were always good for a nice advance in prices. But now, as he begins to pour cold water on things, just the opposite occurred. Now Dr. Bernanke tells the truth and stocks fall. He’s done just about all he can do. Sure he can continue the current Fed policies, but as we have seen, they seem to be met with diminishing returns.
After a 90 point Bernanke Dow drop, stocks did rally back in the last hour to close mixed for the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 7 points to close at 12,788. The S&P 500 was up a fraction to finish the day at 1387. Gold was down $7 to trade at $1727 per ounce, while oil was down $2.21 (on possible Middle East ceasefire) to trade at $87.07 per barrel WTI.
Actually, after the two day rally, today’s pause is not anything to be concerned about. We held the 1382 (200 day moving average) on the S&P 500, so if we can build on that the next couple sessions (remember we are closed Thursday), perhaps we can carry some momentum into next week. We’ll keep you informed.
Have a nice evening everyone.
