Friends
Well, that was quite a ride. Stocks began the session in positive territory after a better than expected jobs report, but sellers resurfaced and the market averages were plunging by midday. The Dow was down over 600 points at its worst, and the tech heavy Nasdaq was down 5% on the day at its worst. But as the afternoon wore on “bargain” hunters appeared and pushed stocks back into positive territory by late afternoon. But, in the final 30 minutes of trading, and given that we are heading into a 3 day holiday weekend, the sellers reappeared to drive stocks lower once again.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 159 points to finish the day at 28,133. The S&P 500 was down 28 points to close at 3,426. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 144 points to close at 11,313. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1,942 per ounce, while oil was down $1.76 to trade at $39.61 per barrel WTI.
It’s been a wild week for stocks. It began with a couple of stock splits and earnings reports that sent the likes of Apple, Tesla and Zoom soaring, but ended with a dose of reality that, despite declarations by internet heroes that stocks only go up, things had indeed overheated and a bit of a cooling off was necessary and warranted. Let’s regather and take time to enjoy the Labor Day Weekend, and we’ll be back at it on Tuesday.
Have a great holiday weekend everyone. Stay Safe!
