Friends
After recovering more than half of the recent decline last week, stocks stumbled out of the gate this week to post sizable losses on this first trading day of the shortened week. On the earnings front Wal-Mart had a disappointing report and added mightily to the decline in both the Dow and the S&P. Home Depot, on the other hand had a stellar earnings report, but its advance was stymied by the overall market weakness.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 254 points to finish the day at 24,964. The S&P 500 was down 15 points to close at 2,716. Gold was down $25 to trade at $1,331 per ounce, while oil was up $.22 to trade at $61.77 per barrel WTI.
Bond yields ticked up just a bit today, which helped set the tenuous tone for stocks early on. It is a somewhat quiet week on the economic front, but we will get the Fed minutes tomorrow in addition to existing home sales. We’ll get leading indicators and jobless claims on Thursday. Let’s see if the bears want to take us back and test the lows from a couple of weeks ago, or will the bulls make a stand and defend the recovery gains from last week. Stay tuned, we’ll bring you the play by play.
Have a nice evening everyone.
