Friends
Fed Chair Jerome Powell had his day before the House Finance Committee and the results were mixed. Sure he presented well, but did deviate just a little from his prepared comments. BUT- some of the questioning was bizarre. I urge you to once and a while watch our elected representatives at work. Whatever they are being paid-it’s too much. Anyway, bonds read a little bit of hawkishness into today’s testimony (maybe 4 rate hikes this year instead of 3- I say we’ll see) and rates bumped up on the 10 year note. With that stocks sold off and gave back most of yesterday’s gains.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 299 points to finish the day at 25,410. The S&P 500 was down 35 points to close at 2,744. Gold was down $13 to trade at $1,318 per ounce, while oil was down $1.02 to trade at $62.89 per barrel WTI.
We’ll get our second look at 4th quarter GDP tomorrow, and on Thursday Fed Chair Powell will testify before the Senate Banking Committee. Stocks seem to be taking their cue from bonds in recent sessions, so all eyes will be focused on the bond market and if that 10 year rate can climb to the 3% level. Funny thing is that when rates bump up stocks sell off, but as stocks sell off bonds are bought and rates drop back down. We’ll see how this tug of war plays out over the coming days.
Have a nice evening everyone.
