Friends
We are back to a full week of trading with February ending tomorrow and The President’s “State of the Union” speech on Tuesday evening. That should be must see TV. On the economic front we get our second look at 4th quarter 2016 GDP tomorrow, along with Chicago PMI, Richmond Fed Manufacturing, and Consumer Confidence. On Wednesday we get Personal Income and Outlays, PMI Manufacturing, ISM Manufacturing and Construction Spending. Thursday we get Chain Store Sales and Jobless Claims, and finally on Friday we get PMI Services and ISM non-manufacturing. Needless to say, we have a lot on our plate this week.
As for today, stocks drifted quietly for the entire trading session. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 15 points to finish the day at 20,837. The S&P 500 was up 2 points to close at 2,369. Gold was down $5 to trade at $1,252 per ounce, while oil was up $.08 to trade at $54.07 per barrel WTI.
Indeed, this was the 12th day in a row for gains in the Dow. As we have mentioned before, the move has been somewhat quiet and deliberate. Nevertheless, the bulls seem to have the bears hypnotized at the moment. It will be interesting to see how markets respond to The President’s speech tomorrow night. We’ll let you know how it and the week play out. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
