Friends
Traders sat on their hands for most of the morning as they waited for the release of the Fed minutes at 1:00 Central time. Despite the minutes indicating that the Fed might be leaning a bit more hawkish (willing to raise rates a bit sooner than thought), stocks rallied in the last couple of hours of trading with the S&P nearing its all-time high once again. The bears like to say “risk happens fast” every time we see a down day in the market. Well, with the lively advance we have seen in share prices the last two weeks, the bulls could counter that reward happens fast too.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 59 points to finish the day at 16,979. The S&P 500 was up 4 points to close at 1986. Gold was down $4 to trade at $1292 per ounce, while oil was up $1.59 to trade at $96.07 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front, tomorrow we get the weekly jobless claims number as well as the PMI Manufacturing Index, Philadelphia Fed Survey, Existing Home Sales and Leading Indicators. Of course we get Janet Yellen’s speech at Jackson Hole on Friday. Once again, the bulls are forcing the action. Let’s see how the rest of the week plays out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
