Friends
Market participants didn’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to find out who was going to be heading the Federal Reserve for the next 4 years. Word came early today that President Biden had decided to stay with current Fed Chair Jerome Powell to continue to lead the Fed. This was welcome news as Wall Street has become comfortable with the current Fed Chair as he has done a good job of keeping the markets well informed as to what the Fed is thinking and maybe sometimes more importantly what the Fed is not thinking.
Stocks spent most of the day in positive territory although it appeared a bit suspect (at least on my screen) as there was a lot of red covered up by big early moves in the likes of Apple and Microsoft. By the close, the bulls lost their mojo and stocks lost ground. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17 points to close at 35,619. The S&P 500 was down 15 points to finish the day at 4,682. The Nasdaq was down 202 points to close at 15,854. Gold was down $47 to trade at $1,804 per ounce, while oil was up $.48 to trade at $76.42 per barrel WTI.
We’ve talked about how stocks have felt a bit heavy recently, and quite frankly if it weren’t for a big move in a few names (see Apple and Microsoft again) folks would be paying attention to some of the damage that has occurred under the radar. The trick between now and the end of the year will be whether the few big name winners are going to roll over, or are many of the beaten down names poised to rally into year end. We will see.
Have a nice evening everyone.
