Friends
It was another somewhat quiet day of trading, though we did have a little more volatility than yesterday. Considering the robust three day rally that we had, a couple days of consolidation wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen at this point. Of course, it would be discouraging if the recent “gains” were to evaporate in the next few trading sessions. On the economic front, the CPI number came in a little “hotter” than expected, but not a market moving data point just yet.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 21 points to finish the day at 16,391. The S&P 500 was down a fraction to close at 1917. Gold was up $2 to trade at $1,228, while oil was down $.93 to trade at $29.84 per barrel WTI.
Have we seen the worst of this “bear” market? Well, of course that is impossible to know, but experience tells us that cycle bottoms are typically a process-one where levels need to be tested more than once, and finally successfully hold. The good news is that sentiment was and still is extremely negative, typical near market bottoms, but unfortunately the conditions that brought on this bear market have not yet been alleviated, not the least of which is a weakening corporate earnings picture. Let’s be glad that we had our first really decent week for the bulls so far in 2016, but we won’t get too far out ahead of our skis just yet.
Have a great weekend everyone.
