Friends
Another day, another plethora of weak economic data. The Empire State number showed softness in manufacturing, the Industrial Production number was negative and the Consumer Sentiment number was much worse than expected. Understandably, bonds rallied (rates fell), but the stock market seemed out of gas after the volatility seen the previous four sessions.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20 points to close at 18,272. The S&P 500 was up 1 point finishing the day at 2122. Gold was down less than a dollar to trade at $1224 per ounce, while oil was also mostly unchanged trading at $59.86 per barrel WTI.
Next week we get last months Fed minutes, and more economic data including housing data, leading indicators and more manufacturing data. If economic data doesn’t support raising the Fed Funds rate, and interest rates in general settle back to levels seen earlier in the year, are we back to TINA (there is no alternative) for stocks? We’ll consider that over a glass of wine as the weekend is upon us.
Have a great weekend everyone.
