Friends
Stocks finished the week and the month on a positive note. This morning’s PCE (personal consumption expenditures) price index came in as expected rising .2% from last month and 2.5% year over year. Though not yet at the Fed’s target of 2% (as a matter of fact we have been stuck at 2.5% for a few months) it’s close enough to confirm the desire for the Fed to cut rates in a couple of weeks. Next Friday’s jobs report will likely dictate whether that rate cut will be a quarter of a point or a half of a point. Stay tuned for that.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 228 points to finish the day at 41,563. The S&P 500 was up 56 points to close at 5,648. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 197 points to close at 17,713. Gold was down $26 to trade at $2,534 per ounce, while oil was down $2.47 to trade at $73.44 per barrel WTI.
August was kind of a wild ride to nowhere. We saw stocks struggle and then rally. Now we enter September with all eyes on the Federal Reserve and monetary policy. Of course, after that we have an election in November. Buckle up, we are likely to see some volatility in the coming weeks and months.
Have a great Labor Day Weekend everyone.
