Friends
It was a difficult day for stocks as fears of virus variants possibly putting the brakes on the great reopening sent interest rates lower as the 10 year Treasury note yield plunged below 1.30%. Stocks got off to a rocky start also with the Dow falling more than 500 points in early trading. Things did recover some as the trading session wore on, but concerns seemed to linger. Analysts continue to be confused by the fall in interest rates after all of the inflation talk in recent months, but as opposed to a referendum on inflation, the drop in yields (rise in bond prices) might be nothing more than the Fed and other large institutional and overseas buyers sucking up all of the supply of bonds.
As for stocks, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 259 points to finish the day at 34,421. The S&P 500 was down 37 points to close at 4,320.The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 105 points to close at 14,559. Gold was down $1 to trade at $1,801 per ounce, while oil was up $.88 to trade at $73.08 per barrel WTI.
With all of the confusion in the markets we will be entering earnings season starting next week. So with virus variants, bond yields, inflation worries (or not) we enter this coming earnings season with a lot on our plate. Let’s first see how things finish up for the week tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
