Friends
Stocks continued their push modestly higher in today’s trading session. Interestingly, bond yields have also ticked up a bit over the last couple of trading sessions. Sometimes rising rates can be viewed as a threat to stocks, but market participants seem relieved that bond yields stopped crashing. Sure, low interest rates are good for stock valuations, but plunging rates that investors can’t explain did cause a little angst earlier in the summer.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 39 points to finish the day at 35,405. The S&P 500 was up 9 points to close at 4,496. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 22 points to close at 15,041. Gold was down $16 to trade at $1,792 per ounce, while oil was up $.79 to trade at $68.33 per barrel WTI.
We are about done with earnings from retailers with Nordstrom’s release (the stock struggled after the report). For the most part retailers had very good earnings this quarter, though the stock reactions were very mixed. Next traders will be focused on Fed Chair Powell and his presentation at Jackson Hole on Friday. Market reactions this week seem to indicate that there won’t be any surprises from the Fed Chair, but we will see. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
