Friends
The markets seemed to be signaling most of the day that traders believed that there might be some kind of deal in the making with regards to the fiscal cliff. Stocks as measured by the Dow were up more than 100 points for most of the early afternoon. Despite one politician after another proclaiming on television that they are not even close to making a deal, the markets seem to think that one is forthcoming. Harry Reid tried to kill the momentum by claiming that the Republicans need to let the Democrats know what cuts that they want in return for higher taxes. The Democrats surely aren’t going to offer any up. At that point stocks gave up about half of their gains, but rallied again into the close.
When all was said and done, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 78 points to close at 13,248. The S&P 500 was up 9 points to finish the day at 1427. Gold was down $3 to trade at $1711 per ounce, while oil was up $.28 to trade at $85.84 per barrel WTI. The bulls are encouraged that we were able to hold the S&P above the 1419 level, while the bears have to be just beside themselves trying to figure out why stocks keep rising amongst all this uncertainty.
We’ll hear from the Fed tomorrow. Perhaps Dr. Bernanke can take our minds off the political circus for a day. We’ll let you know what the FOMC decides to do.
Have a nice evening everyone.
