Friends
It was a difficult day and a difficult week in general for stocks. St. Louis Fed President Bullard spoke in a more hawkish tone this morning in an interview on CNBC, and with market participants already feeling a bit confused/jittery about things, that was all that was needed to send stocks tumbling at the open. Though Mr. Bullard spoke about inflation being hotter than the Fed expected, many of the stocks that had been benefiting from higher inflation expectations showed weakness all week long. But, once again despite all the inflation talk interest rates fell on the long end of the curve, which really hurt the shares of the banks.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 533 points to finish the day at 33,290. The S&P 500 was down 55 points to close at 4166 . The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 130 to close at 14,030. Gold was down $4 to trade at $1,770 per ounce, while oil was up $.66 to trade at $71.70 per barrel WTI.
As we mentioned all week long, investors are dealing with a whole lot of mixed messages right now. Stocks have been hanging around all-time highs in recent weeks, so it is not surprising that we have run into some selling this week. Markets don’t like uncertainty, and even the “smartest” minds on Wall Street seem to be at odds on where we stand with regards to growth, inflation and the Fed. Let’s see if this pullback has legs when trading begins next week. A typical summer type pullback might just set up the market for a pretty good second half of the year. Stay tuned.
Have a great weekend everyone.
