Friend
The pundits keep calling for recession and the economy keeps resisting. Today’s ISM and Factory Orders numbers were better than expected and added to last Friday’s better than expected jobs number, the backdrop just doesn’t spell recession – at least not yet. Remember, though, good economic news is bad news for stocks (well, most of the time). If the economy doesn’t weaken soon, the Fed is more likely to continue to raise interest rates. We get a PPI number this week and a CPI number next week, so if inflation has indeed peaked and moving lower then the Fed could more readily accept a stronger economy.
As for today, stocks moved lower throughout the trading session. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 482 points to finish the day at 33,947. The S&P 500 was down 72 points to close at 3,998. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 221 points to close at 11,239. Gold was down $30 to trade at $1,779 per ounce, while oil was down $2.74 to trade at $77.24 per barrel WTI.
It’s a pretty tough needle to thread for the bulls. They need the economy to stay relatively strong and inflation to decline. Most market pundits don’t believe that can can/will happen. We will see. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
