Friends,
Traders seem to be slowing things down as we get close to the Thanksgiving holiday. This morning we had the first revised look at 3rd quarter GDP and it was, indeed, reduced downward form the original 2.5% to 2%. That set the tone for a lower market in early trading as stocks fell about 100 Dow points by midday. At lunchtime we got a report that the IMF was introducing a Precautionary Liquidity Line (PLL), a somewhat enhanced lending program to deal with the Eurozone, but after a nice rally back to even on the Dow, traders suspected that this is not the “bazooka” that will be necessary to provide all the liquidity that will be needed to “bailout” Europe. Later the Fed minutes were released but did not provide much of a catalyst either way for stocks.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 53 points to close at 11,494. The S&P 500 was down almost 5 points to finish the day at 1188. Gold had a better day, as the precious metal was up $21 per ounce to close near the $1700 level. Oil was up almost $1 to close near the $98 per barrel level. The S&P 500 held the 1185 support level for another day, but so much short term technical damage has been done, it’s difficult to form reference points with all the day to day volatility. We still need to see the S&P get back to the 1205 area before we can have any hope of Santa giving us a rally of any meaning. For those watching the Dow, the bulls need to get back above 12,000 if we are to have any chance of a late year charge.
We expect tomorrow to be very light trading as everyone heads out for the Thanksgiving holiday, but as we have seen, light trading does not necessarily mean lack of volatility. We’ll let you know what transpires.
Have a nice evening everyone.
