Friends
Today was the first day of trading for the often treacherous month of September, and other than a handful of stocks including Apple, traders were in a selling mood as the session began. By the time we got the ISM Manufacturing report (which was again disappointing coming in at 49.6) at 9:00 our time, we were in full retreat. By late morning, stocks had fallen over 100 Dow points and the mood was sour. As rumors of ECB action that could come this Thursday hit the wires, stocks rallied back to actually get into positive territory. By the end of the session stocks slipped back into negative territory and even though it is Tuesday, it held the pattern of bad Mondays (first trading day of the week) that we have seen all summer long.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 55 points to finish the day at 13,035. The S&P 500 was down 1 point to close at 1404. Gold was up $10 to trade at $1698 per ounce, while oil was down $.97 to trade a $95.50 per barrel WTI. On the technical front, the S&P was dangerously below the 1398 support area early in the day, but rallied to close comfortably above it. Keep an eye on that number. If it fails, then the bears will try to pile on and finally put a dent in the bull’s bravado. On the other side, the bulls need to get above the 1426 level that was achieved weeks ago. Until then, the bullish case seems to be losing steam (other than of course if Mr. Draghi and Dr. Bernanke come to the rescue).
It’s a short but busy week. We’ll get news out of the ECB on Thursday and the non-farm payroll number on Friday. We’ll keep you up to date as things happen.
Have a nice evening everyone.
