Friends
Stocks meandered between positive and negative territory throughout the trading session after yesterday’s late afternoon downdraft. In late trading the Dow was able to work itself into positive territory, but that didn’t last and the other market averages, more exposed to technology remained in negative territory all day. The Fed set the tone yesterday with its hawkish outlook for interest rates and market participants, already very negatively inclined, appear simply shell shocked.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 107 points to finish the day at 30,076. The S&P 500 was down 31 points to close at 3,757. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 153 points to close at 11,066. Gold was up $5 to trade at $1,680 per ounce, while oil was up $.64 to trade at $83.58 per barrel WTI.
This week was all about the Fed, and Chair Powell lowered the boom on the bulls who were hoping that the Fed was talking tough but was about to begin to back off. They aren’t backing off anytime soon apparently and markets are once again needing to come to terms with it. We’ve said all year long, ad nauseum, that this massive change in monetary policy was going to take some time to play out. Nine months later we are still in what might just be the middle of this process. Investors are going to continue to be challenged to stay patient, something that is very hard to do, but that’s what we are here for – to hold each other’s hands and get through difficult times together. Let’s see how the week finishes out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
