Friends
An effort by the bulls to restoke the recent rally in stocks fell flat today as early gains were erased by the end of the trading session. Today’s ADP private payroll number came in a little lighter than expected which helped endorse the move lower in bond yields we have seen in the past few weeks. So, investors can look at this week’s weakness in stocks as a nice pause that will refresh the bulls once we get past next week’s Fed meeting, or a signal that the recent rally is fading, and the Fed might just bury it next week with hawkish language (hint: they aren’t going to raise or lower rates but will likely move the market with their words).
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 70 points to finish the day at 36,054. The S&P 500 was down 17 points to close at 4,549. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 83 points to close at 14,146. Gold was up $7 to trade at $2,043 per ounce, while oil was down $2.98 to trade at $69.34 per barrel WTI.
Remember, we get the non-farm payroll number on Friday and if that is light as was today’s ADP number, it is likely that bond yields will continue to fall. Of course, the Fed can throw a monkey wrench into things next week. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
