Friends
We got our first look at second quarter GDP this morning, and it wasn’t a pleasant site. Economist and Strategists were looking for growth in the area of 2.6% for the second quarter. What they got was only 1.2%, which basically was not even close. Of course, this number will be revised in the coming months, but it appears that domestic growth continues to be anemic. It would be hard to imagine that the Fed would want to raise interest rates into an economic environment that has been recently defined by weaker employment numbers and slower than hoped GDP numbers.
As for today’s stock action, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 24 points to finish the day at 18,432. The S&P 500 was up 3 points to close at 2,173. Gold was up $19 to trade at $1,360 per ounce, while oil was up $.32 to trade at $41.46 per barrel WTI.
Today is the last trading day for July, which ended up being a good one for stocks. Despite Brexit and low expectations for corporate earnings, it once again appeared that stocks were the only game in town. We saw a mad dash for anything that sports a dividend as interest rates around the globe continue to straddle zero percent. This earnings season is shaping up to be a little better than expected, but stocks have also risen, so valuations haven’t gotten any cheaper. At least we have the political conventions behind us, and that is something to celebrate this weekend.
Everyone enjoy.
