Friends
Stocks were just drifting along in slightly negative territory for most of the day today, before an internal memo out of Wal-Mart describing February sales as “a total disaster” sent the averages plunging in the early afternoon. But in the last hour stocks clawed their way back, and after a 60 Dow point drop the averages ended up in mixed territory.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 8 points to close at 13,981. The S&P 500 was down 1 point to finish the day at 1519. Gold continued its decline as the precious metal was down $26 for the day to trade at $1609 per ounce. Oil was down $1.37 to trade at $95.96 per barrel WTI.
On the economic front the Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed surging manufacturing conditions in the Empire state, while the Industrial Production number was slightly negative. Finally, the Consumer Sentiment number was a little better than expected, so taken all together it was somewhat a mixed picture on the economy. Next week we’ll get PPI and CPI numbers as well as the weekly jobless claims and the Philly Fed Survey. Though the U. S. economy is not necessarily robust, the evidence seems to be pointing to a continued improvement, albeit a slow one.
The markets are closed Monday for Presidents day, so we’ll be back in action on Tuesday. Have a great weekend everyone.
