Europe continues to dominate the news cycle in terms of markets, as rising Italian rates along with a yield curve inversion continued to weigh on the minds of the few traders participating in this half day of trading. Volume was of course very light and it’s the type of day that you really can’t count on as giving any real read on what next week will hold. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 25 points to finish the day and the week at 11,232. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to close at 1158. Gold was down $15, while oil was up just slightly.
When the full roster of traders comes in on Monday morning, they will be squarely focused on the developments in Europe. Until there is some positive resolution over there, it is difficult to imagine we can muster much of a rally into year-end over here. There is a lot of money just waiting for a reason to buy, but the Europeans seem content to keep us frustrated, and quite frankly are the Grinch to our potential Santa Claus rally. Again, pessimism is extremely high, which is probably the best thing that the bulls have going for them (valuation is pretty darn good too). At least the early observations on Black Friday seem to be positive.
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and are not getting trampled out there in the stores today. Have a nice weekend and we’ll check in with you on Monday.
