Friends
Isn’t this fun, we get to talk and worry about a government shut down once again. Yes, the game of chicken is on and after all the blustering and tough talk we get to see who blinks first. Other than the likely effects it would have on stocks, I say shut it down. Anyway, traders seemed to be in a somewhat cautious mood today with all this looming, and stocks drifted into negative territory this afternoon.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 97 points to close at 26,017. The S&P 500 was down 4 points to finish the day at 2,798. Gold was down $12 to trade at $1,326 per ounce, while oil was down $.20 to trade at $63.77 per barrel WTI.
After the close we start to see earnings from some of the bigger names (other than banks) with the likes of IBM and American Express reporting after the bell. Yes, a potential government shutdown is disruptive, but investors will soon be focused on corporate earnings-not only what they report this quarter, but what companies are thinking going forward. Earnings will be the true measuring stick for stocks over the next few weeks.
Have a nice evening everyone.
