Friends
Stocks, fueled by weakness overseas, got off to a very difficult start at the opening of trading and spent the rest of the day trying to lessen the damage. Continued concern of global slowing seems to be weighing on the minds of market participants. On the domestic economic front, housing prices rose higher than expected in July, after slowing just a bit in the second quarter. We’ll get new home sales numbers on Thursday.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179 points to finish the day at 16,330. The S&P 500 was down 24 points to close at 1942. Gold was down $8 to trade at $1124 per ounce, while oil was down $.85 to trade at $46.17 per barrel WTI.
The big business news of the week is the EPA dodging Volkswagen story. Just incredible how much damage this could do to the auto maker. Other than VW shareholders, it may not affect markets, but it is fascinating none the less. As for the markets, traders seem to not have much confidence in the current conditions, whether fueled by the Fed’s inaction or not. We seem to be stuck in a trading range, and the August lows may have to be tested and held before any progress can be made. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
