Friends
Stocks experienced a very quiet trading session today as traders seemed a bit confused by various statements from Fed officials. It seemed like traders couldn’t decide just what stand to take. So many are poised for a downturn (“we have to pullback at some point, right”), while others feel like you can’t get in the way of this freight train (” the trend is your friend”). It’s been quite a beginning to the year. Maybe everyone just needs a moment to catch their breath, and the contradictory statements from Fed officials gave traders a good excuse to head off for an early weekend.
As for today’s action, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2 points to finish the day at 21,005. The S&P 500 was up 1point to close at 2,383. Gold was up $2 to trade at $1,235 per ounce, while oil was up $.56 to trade at $53.17 per barrel WTI.
Next Friday we’ll get a look at February’s non-farm payroll number, and the feeling still is that short of any real surprises, the Fed is poised to raise rates two weeks from now at the FOMC meeting. Politics will continue to affect markets, but once again the Fed is back in the crosshairs of market participants. We’ll let you know how things play out next week heading into the following week’s FOMC meeting.
Have a great weekend everyone.
