Friends
After the Fed release at 1:15 our time, stocks seemed to not be able to figure out which way to go. The Dow alternated between red and green as traders seemed simply exhausted from waiting on central bankers to declare their intentions. As for the FOMC statement, basically there was nothing changed from the last meeting. We kind of expected that. Of course the Fed did indicate that they will be ready to come to the rescue should economic activity continue to slow. Now we wait for ECB president Mario Draghi and his game plan tomorrow.
On the economic front the ADP non-farm payroll employment number was better than expected (163,000 jobs vs. the expected 120,000), but still a bit less than last month. On the other hand, the PMI Manufacturing Index number was slightly below last month’s number indicated a continuing slowdown in the nation’s manufacturing sector. Remember, on Friday we get the Government non-farm payroll number as well as the PMI Non-Manufacturing report.
As for stocks, after a bizarre trading glitch at the opening, stocks ended the day slightly to the downside, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 32 points to close at 12,976. The S&P 500 was down almost 4 points to finish the day at 1375. Gold was down $10 to trade at $1604 per ounce, while oil was up $.81 to trade at $88.87 per barrel WTI.
As with the Fed today, I hope that traders aren’t expecting too much out of Draghi tomorrow. So far things have been a bit more quiet than I expected this week. Let’s see how the next couple of days go. The bulls are counting on central bankers to save the day, while the bears are counting on the fact that these central bankers are out of effective bullets. We’ll see.
Have a nice evening everyone.
