Friends
Another day that could have been much worse, ends up being nothing more than a minor nuisance to the bulls. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, after being down nearly 90 points early in the morning, finished with a loss of 14 points to close at 12,962. The S&P 500 was down 5 points to close at 1364. Gold was down $3.50 to trade near $1706 at the close and oil was up a fraction to trade just shy of $107 per barrel WTI.
The disappointment for the bulls is that, once again, we have not been able to hold above 1370 on the S&P 500. Apple, the stalwart of this recent move, had a bad day losing 11 points, as investors await the unveiling of the new iPad on Wednesday(it’s not unusual to see a little nervousness considering the dynamic move the stock has had in the last 3 months). Despite Apple’s weakness, the market held it together.
On the economic front, we got the ISM Services Index (non-manufacturing) this morning which was better than expect and the best we have seen in a year. Factory orders while not good, were just a little better than expected, so combined we once again had relatively good economic data to deal with today. Traders are very much focused on Friday’s non-farm payroll numbers, which should dictate the mindset of investors for the rest of the month.
We’ll keep you informed how the week plays out as we look forward to Friday. Have a nice evening everyone.
