Friends
Stocks were mixed today with the Dow firmly to the upside buoyed by gains in shares of Dow components Boeing, Dow Chemical, and Disney. The rest of the market was mostly quiet with the S&P up slightly and the Nasdaq down a bit. On the economic front the jobless claims number was the lowest reading we have seen in some time which sets us up for tomorrow’s non-farm payroll number. Remember, estimates are that about 175,000 new jobs were created in March, but of course we had a big surprise both in January and February, one to the positive and one to the negative, so tomorrow’s release will be very interesting.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 166 points to close at 26,384. The S&P 500 was up 6 points to finish the day at 2,879. Gold was up $2 to trade at $1,297 per ounce, while oil was down $.32 to trade at $62.14 per barrel WTI.
All in all, the bulls still hold the upper hand, but tomorrow’s jobs number and the upcoming earnings season will be monitored and analyzed very closely by market participants. Stay tuned, we’ll let you know how the week finishes out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
