Friends
Stocks rallied early, and were able to hold onto the gains for the entire trading session. With one day left in the shortened trading week, the bulls have sure turned the tide after last week’s mess. Stocks had already been comfortably in positive territory, but catapulted higher during Fed Chair Yellen’s speech and Q &A before the Economic Club of New York. Ms. Yellen continued to strike an accommodative pose, and made sure to emphasize that the Fed can become even more accommodative should the data call for it.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 162 points to finish the day at 16,424. The S&P 500 was up 19 points to close at 1862. Gold was up $2 to trade at $1302 per ounce, while oil was up $.16 to trade at $103.91 per barrel WTI.
Though it is early, earnings season has produced more pleasant surprises (expectations had been diminished) than disappointments (although IBM, Google and American Express just disappointed after the close), so there is that for the bulls to hang their hat on. Other than that, this year has been marked by runs in both directions with the result being not very much progress or damage. Let’s see how the week ends tomorrow.
