Friends
Despite an absolute drubbing of shares of Apple, stocks continue to climb higher. No, Apple’s earnings weren’t all that bad, but the same analysts that were falling all over themselves predicting a price target of $1000 per share, are now insisting that without some new “wow” product, the company’s best growth days are behind them. My guess is just as their euphoria on the upside proved ridiculous, their pessimism at this point is most likely over done also. Regardless, the rest of the market seems to have been able to shrug off Apple’s woes and continue to climb toward new highs.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 45 points to close at 13,825. The S&P 500 squeezed out a fractional gain (despite Apple) to finish the day at $1494. Gold was down $19 to trade at $1667 per ounce, while oil was up $.79 to trade at $96.02 per barrel WTI.
So far, earnings season has been a success with about 60% of the companies reporting beating analyst’s estimates. Even companies that have disappointed (other than Apple) have escaped somewhat unscathed. The positive price action after earnings reports has definitely emboldened the bulls. You know I like to stay positive, but I wouldn’t mind a little pull back in here. It seems a little too easy right now, and we know that the market has a way of humbling those that don’t respect it. The signs are good, but we haven’t had a pause for a couple of weeks now. We’ll let you know how the week ends tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
