Friends
Once again, the disruption in the oil markets seemed to really set a dour tone for the stock market. After the rapid rise in stock prices the last couple of weeks, it’s not surprising that we would give back some of those gains, especially given that we’re in the middle of a difficult corporate earnings reporting season, but the oil situation has added yet another douse of gasoline to the fire.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 631 points to close at 23,018. The S&P 500 was down 86 points to finish the day at 2,736. Gold was down $10 to trade at $1,700 per ounce, while beleaguered May oil contract finished the day at $9.06 per barrel WTI. The June contract was trading around $13.42 per barrel.
Last week, the news flow was focused on flattening curves, encouraging therapeutics and getting back to work. The narrative has changed dramatically already this week. Now we’re afraid to go back to work, the collapsing economy is getting more play, and the struggles of companies are being illustrated by their earnings reports. As I said yesterday, buckle up, it’s going to be a choppy week.
Have a nice evening everyone.
