Friends
Get interest rates and oil prices to fall a little bit and you can have a stock rally. That’s what we saw today. And speaking of interest rates, the climb higher is likely to be stalled at some point soon. That doesn’t mean that a secular long-term bear market in bond prices won’t happen, but even if it happens there will be many cycles of lower rates (higher bond prices) along the way. But for today, the bulls got a little relief from what has been ailing them.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 127 points to close at 33,129. The S&P 500 was up 34 points to finish the day at 4,263. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 176 points to close at 13,236. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1,838 per ounce, while oil was down $4.50 to trade at $84.73 per barrel WTI.
Remember we get the non-farm payroll number on Friday and then we start working our way into earnings season. I would still say the bears have the upper hand at the moment, but a few more days with oil prices dropping and interest rates moderating, and the bulls could start to build on something into year end. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
