Friends
After sleeping on it, market participants seemed even more confused about the Fed statement and Janet Yellen’s performance at her press conference yesterday. It almost appeared to be a throw up your hands and surrender moment for the Fed as they continue to be chasing economic data and not ever seemingly able to get a handle on it.
Stocks sold off early with the Dow falling more than 160 points by midmorning. Then by early afternoon the Dow had seen a full reversal and was sporting a nifty 60 point gain. As mentioned, traders just seemed confused-is lower for longer a good thing nowadays or is it finally an admission that the Fed simply has no power to affect economic conditions. If interest rates stay at or near zero forever, is it good or bad for stocks?
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 93 points to finish the day at 17,733. The S&P 500 was up 6 points to close at 2077. Gold was down $4.70 to trade at $1283 per ounce, while oil was down $1.97 to trade at $46.04 per barrel WTI.
In addition to all the Fed/ Central Bank angst, oil seems to have slipped back into a downturn. That is not really a surprise given the move back up it had made in recent months, but a more pronounced move down would likely once again get the attention of stock market participants. Let’s see if anything begins to become more clear tomorrow and into next week for traders. Right now it feels like the markets are adrift on choppy waters.
Have a nice evening everyone.
