Friends
Things were a bit choppy today, but with a positive bias. Stocks rallied in early trading after the Warren Buffett/Berkshire Hathaway weekend in Omaha set the tone, but after a couple of hundred Dow point gain, the word that the President was going to announce a decision on the Iran deal tomorrow, let air out of the balloon (oil gave up most of its gains also).
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 94 points to finish the day at 24,357. The S&P 500 was up 9 points to close at 2,672. Gold was down a fraction to trade at $1,314 per ounce, while oil was up $.10 to trade at $69.82 per barrel WTI.
We are still working through the latter part of earnings season, but the body of evidence produced by corporate America indicates that companies are in really good shape, and that the economy is fine. Market participants are trying to figure out if we are simply in a pause that refreshes and sends us to new highs in the second half of the year, or have we already priced in all the good news, and stocks are destined for a difficult 2018. This will all play out in the months ahead and we’ll be here to bring you the details. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
