Hearings Don’t Affect Stocks

Nov 13, 2019 | Market Commentary

Friends

Simultaneously we had the first day of impeachment hearings and Fed Chair Powell testifying on Capitol Hill. Neither seemed to stimulate any trading direction on Wall Street. Stocks meandered along and were slightly positive before a Wall Street Journal report that Phase 1 of the China trade deal might have already hit a snag – before it is even signed. Stocks fell slightly into negative territory, but by the close stocks were once again somewhat mixed. The Dow sported gains mainly due to a rise in Disney stock after news of the new subscription service having already signed up 10 million subscribers.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 92 points to close at 27,783. The S&P 500 was up 2 points to finish the day at 3,094. Gold was up $10 to trade at $1,463 per ounce, while oil was up $.48 to trade at $57.28 per barrel WTI.

Yes, we are touching new highs each day, but we are doing so with little conviction in recent sessions. But, it’s been a great year for the bulls to date, and that is what matters.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Recent Posts

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Tech Stocks Continue to Drag Market Lower

Friends The weakness in tech/AI stocks continues and the market averages, especially the Nasdaq, continue to lose ground as we get closer to year end. Instead of taking a victory lap the stocks that have been the leaders all year long are now cowering nervously in the...

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Stocks Mostly Lower after Employment Data Release

Friends This morning’s release of the November non-farm payroll number showed that 64,000 new jobs were added, which was better than analysts had expected. The unemployment rate did tick up to 4.6%, which was actually more than expected. It’s hard to determine if this...

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Stocks Soft As Economic Data Looms

Friends Today was pretty much the same script we have seen over the past couple of weeks. The AI/big tech names came under selling pressure enough to take the market averages into negative territory. It’s hard to read too much into recent market action as we are so...