Friends
It was a difficult day for stocks. We got the Fed’s favorite inflation indicator this morning, the core personal income expenditures (PCE), and it came in a little hotter than expected. Surprisingly, bonds rallied after the release as yields fell a full 10 basis points on the 10-year Treasury Note. But stocks tumbled as the term “stagflation” was making the rounds on Wall Street. In addition, my hope that perhaps tariffs have already been discounted by market participants didn’t seem to be true today.
By the close, the Dow Jones was down 715 points to finish the day at 41,583. The S&P 500 was down 112 points to close at 5,580. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 481 points to close at 17,322. Gold was up $22 to trade at $3,113 per ounce, while oil was down $.78 to trade at $69.14 per barrel WTI.
We have one more trading day to finish out the first quarter on Monday. As of the moment the S&P 500 is down about 5% for the quarter, not good, but certainly not disastrous (yes, I know we are down more than that from the February highs). We have been prepared for more volatility this year and we are always reminded that you can’t receive the superior long term returns that stocks provide without accepting short term volatility. As I always say, volatility is the price of admission to get on the wealth creation ride. Let’s marinate some ice cubes and see how the quarter finishes out on Monday.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Jim
