Friends
A huge jump in housing permits and relative quiet regarding the Greece situation, helped move stocks to the upside, and the bulls were able to hold onto the gains as the trading session came to a close. Today was the first day of the two day FOMC meeting. Remember, we’ll get the Fed statement and the Janet Yellen press conference tomorrow afternoon. We’re not expecting anything earth shattering but be assured that market participants will parse every word of the statement and the Fed Chair Q &A.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 113 points to finish the day at 17,904. The S&P 500 was up 11 points to close at 2096. Gold was down $4 to trade at $1181 per ounce, while oil was up $.46 to trade at $59.98 per barrel WTI.
If you’re keeping score, the economic data that would embolden the hawks on the committee are focused mainly on the employment numbers and housing. The doves will gladly point to the lack of inflation and relatively stagnant wages, not to mention lousy retail sales figures as of late. There seems to be more doves amongst the voting members of the committee, but Fed Chair Yellen has made it clear that they want to move off of zero as soon as the data allows. We’ll let you know how it plays out tomorrow.
