Friends
Stocks fell for the fifth straight session, and the fourth in a row to begin the month of December. Domestic economic data got the ball rolling this morning with a better than expected 3rd quarter GDP revision. The number came in at 3.6% annualized compared to 2.8% on first look and 2.5% for the second quarter. Analysts are fretting over the inventory buildup in the quarter and believe that it sets the stage for a disappointing 4th quarter. We will see. The weekly jobless claims number finally broke the 300,000 level, coming in at 298,000 for the week.
All of this “good” news sent stocks down, of course, and continued to put pressure on bond prices (rates rising). We will have to deal with this for a while as each encouraging economic data point might be met with fear that the Fed might begin to taper (take the punch bowl away).
As for today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 68 points to close at 15,821. The S&P 500 was down 7 points to finish the day at 1785. Gold was down $21 to trade at $1225 per ounce, while oil was up $.24 to trade at $97.44 per barrel WTI.
Despite the 5 down sessions in a row, the S&P has only lost a little more than 1.5% of value. The bears will need to ramp it up soon, or the bulls will try to take back the momentum, figuring that the bears couldn’t hold onto the higher ground. Tomorrow jobs data should provide the fuel for an interesting trading session. We’ll let you know how the week ends.
Friends
Stocks fell for the fifth straight session, and the fourth in a row to begin the month of December. Domestic economic data got the ball rolling this morning with a better than expected 3rd quarter GDP revision. The number came in at 3.6% annualized compared to 2.8% on first look and 2.5% for the second quarter. Analysts are fretting over the inventory buildup in the quarter and believe that it sets the stage for a disappointing 4th quarter. We will see. The weekly jobless claims number finally broke the 300,000 level, coming in at 298,000 for the week.
All of this “good” news sent stocks down, of course, and continued to put pressure on bond prices (rates rising). We will have to deal with this for a while as each encouraging economic data point might be met with fear that the Fed might begin to taper (take the punch bowl away).
As for today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 68 points to close at 15,821. The S&P 500 was down 7 points to finish the day at 1785. Gold was down $21 to trade at $1225 per ounce, while oil was up $.24 to trade at $97.44 per barrel WTI.
Despite the 5 down sessions in a row, the S&P has only lost a little more than 1.5% of value. The bears will need to ramp it up soon, or the bulls will try to take back the momentum, figuring that the bears couldn’t hold onto the higher ground. Tomorrow jobs data should provide the fuel for an interesting trading session. We’ll let you know how the week ends.
