Friends
Another active day of trading as stocks reacted in a very negative fashion to the very disappointing retail sales number released before the opening of the session. The Dow opened up to a 200 point loss and by midday that number was well over 300 points, but an afternoon rally in oil helped the averages regain a little bit of the losses.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 186 points to finish the day at 17,427. The S&P 500 was down 11 points to close 2011. Gold was down $4 to trade at $1229, while oil received somewhat of a dead cat bounce with WTI up $2.49 per barrel.
In addition to the retail sales disappointment, the first of the large banks earnings reports were less than stellar. Also, the beige book report from the Fed released this afternoon indicated that economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace of growth.
It’s been a volatile week so far. Let’s see how the next two days play out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
