Friends
As we mentioned earlier in the week, recent headlines have become headwinds for stocks. Tensions in the Middle East has caused oil prices to rise fueling fears of inflation. Remember, the Fed has embarked on their easing cycle so any disruption to the direction of inflation would be a deterrent to higher stock prices. Having noted that, we get the non-farm payroll numbers tomorrow. The job market is the other side of the equation that the Fed grapples with.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 184 points to finish the day at 42,011. The S&P 500 was down 9 points to close at 5,699. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 6 points to close at 17,918. Gold was up $8 to trade at $2,678 per ounce while the aforementioned oil was up $3.83 to trade at $73.93 per barrel WTI.
Today’s ISM Services number was better than expected which was another positive economic data point, but as mentioned all eyes will be on tomorrow’s jobs report. It is expected that we will see that the economy added 150,000 new jobs in September. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.2%. We’ll let you know how the week finishes out tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
