Friends
As the inflation vs recession narratives wage their battle, the markets continue to be unconvinced. After the recent move lower in interest rates, today bonds sold off pushing rates back up sharply. Both oil and gold continue to tumble, but oil ended well off the lows of the day. Stocks opened lower but moved higher as the trading session wore on, only to give up some of those gains by the close. In a word, market participants seem confused.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 69 points to finish the day at 31,037. The S&P 500 was up 13 points to close at 3,845. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 39 points to close at 11,361. Gold was down $24 to trade at $1,739 per ounce, while oil was down $.90 to trade at $98.60 per barrel WTI.
The Fed minutes released this afternoon confirmed that the Fed is focused firmly on inflation and don’t appear to be concerned about causing a recession. At least for the moment. So, a 75-basis point rate hike still seems to be in the cards later this month when the FOMC meets. It will be interesting to see how Friday’s job report is interpreted by the market. Will good news (a strong jobs number) actually be bad news for the markets? What if the jobs number disappoints? Will stocks rally? Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
