Friends
Stocks tried to rally today. They really did. Unfortunately, traders really couldn’t find a reason to take the plunge. We may have to wait for next week’s Fed meeting to find any real catalyst for the markets. Once again, as the dollar surges and interest rates around the world plunge to new lows, the whiff of deflation and the possibility that the Fed begins the tightening process is weighing on the psyche of market participants.
As for today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 27 points to close at 17,635. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to finish the day at 2040. Gold was down $6 to trade at $1153 per ounce, while oil was up $.03 to trade at $48.32 per barrel WTI, after trading down earlier in the day.
Sentiment has certainly turned negative, but that’s been the case each time stocks have pulled back in the last couple of years. We’ve known that the day of reckoning with regards to the Fed raising rates was coming sooner or later, yet this can’t really be a surprise to market participants. Yes, many believe that the Fed could delay the inevitable, but the recent string of good jobs data may be too difficult to overlook at this point. What would be really interesting is if the Fed backs away from a more hawkish stance and keeps the cautious wording in next week’s FOMC statement. Don’t think that will happen, but what fun that would be if it did. First let’s see how this week winds down.
Have a nice evening everyone.
