Friends
Stocks tumbled at the open once again despite the Swiss “helping out” Credit Suisse overnight. The ECB raising key interest rates by a half of a point added to the anxiety in early trading. But after the bank stocks took another leg down in the morning, news began to leak that some of the big banks were going to inject money into troubled First Republic Bank. Stocks rallied on the rumor which was confirmed a couple of hours later. Stocks swung from losses to gains as the market averages surged higher. Even more amazing is the continued volatility in bonds. The daily range of the 2-year note in the past few days is truly stunning.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 371 points to finish the day at 32,246. The S&P 500 was up 68 points to close at 3,960. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 283 points to close at 11,717. Gold was down $7 to trade at $1,923 per ounce, while oil was up $.59 to trade at $68.20 per barrel WTI.
Officially it appears that 11 banks will deposit $30 billion into First Republic Bank. This is obviously a show of support not just for First Republic, but the banking system in general. At least for today, nerves were calmed. Let’s see how the week finishes out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
