Friends
Today’s FOMC minutes seemed to indicate that the Fed members may not have been quite as confident in the economy as had been disseminated by the Fed Chair and subsequent reports. From reading the minutes the FOMC does, indeed, want to raise rates this year, but they may not be in quite the hurry we thought. Sure anything could happen at the March meeting, but Fed handicappers are more convinced that the next rate hike may not come until May or even June.
Stocks reacted with a collective yawn to the Fed minutes, and what was already a “non-event” day, remained a “non-event” day. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 32 points to finish the day at 20,775. The S&P 500 was down 2 points to close at 2,362. Gold was down a fraction to trade at $1,238 per ounce, while oil was down $.78 to trade at $53.55 per barrel WTI.
The other economic data point today was Existing Home Sales, which came in a bit softer than expected. The President has sucked up all the oxygen lately, leaving the Fed playing second fiddle. Today’s FOMC minutes put Janet & Co. back on the front burner for a moment- but the flame went out quickly and we will likely be back to “when will tax cuts happen” and “can we really get an infrastructure bill passed”? Earnings season was fine, but valuations aren’t cheap, so the bulls have some heavy lifting to do to get the market averages higher in the short term.
Have a nice evening everyone.
