Friends
March continues to resemble January, as stocks once again tumbled as the dollar climbed. The deflationary scares marked by miniscule interest rates in the Eurozone, seems to have traders spooked at the moment, and the thought that the Fed might begin to tighten monetary policy doesn’t help the matter either. Yes, stocks can do well in a rising interest rate environment if earnings are increasing also, but we find ourselves at the moment at a time when corporate earnings estimates are actually coming down some.
As for today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 332 points to close at 17,662. The S&P 500 was down 35 points to finish the day at 2044. Gold was down $5 to trade at $1160 per ounce, while oil was down $1.36 to trade at $48.64 per barrel WTI.
As of today, the year to date gains in the Dow and the S&P have been wiped away, and the turnaround that we saw in February has been halted. Who’s going to grab the upper hand as we head towards the Spring? The bears seem to have the stars aligned, but as we know, the bulls have been a determined bunch over the past several years.
Have a nice evening everyone.
