Friends
Let’s start with the economic numbers that we got this morning. The non-farm payroll number baffled analysts, as what was supposed to be a “suppressed by Sandy” weak number came in much better than expected with 146,000 new jobs created in November. On the other side of the spectrum, the Consumer Sentiment number came in much worse than expected and much worse than last month. Perhaps all this “fiscal cliff” talk is weighing on the psyche of the American consumer. Neither number seemed to have a meaningful effect on traders as stocks drifted in early trading.
By late morning, John Boehner gave us another “progress report” basically saying that there has been no progress in the talks with the President. This did not deter traders as stocks spent the afternoon drifting higher (except for the NASDAQ which was weighed down by the decline in Apple shares).
For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 81 points to close at 13,155. The S&P 500 was up 4 points to finish the day at 1418. Gold was up $3.60 to trade at $1705 per ounce, while oil was down $.22 to trade at $86.04 per barrel WTI. The bulls really need the S&P to get through the 1419 level to establish a breakout toward year end. The bears, already confounded by the markets strength, would have to react to a breakout beyond that point.
Maybe Rudolph is helping Santa cut through the haze of political fog to deliver us a Santa Claus rally. I must admit, with all the negative vibes, it is impressive that stocks are hanging tough. Let’s see what next week brings.
Have a great weekend everyone.
