Friends
Glad some of you were able join us on the call this morning. What another wild and crazy day. After a 560 point Dow drop at the open, stocks reversed course nearly 900 points to post a 350 point gain just minutes later. After that, we seesawed around for hours only to rally in the last hour of trading. This volatility is stunning and may last a little longer, so it’s best just to let it play out.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 567 points to finish the day at 24,912. The S&P 500 was up 46 points to close at 2,695. Gold was down $12 to trade at $1,324 per ounce, while oil was down $.60 to trade at $63.55 per barrel WTI.
After Friday’s downturn, we sold hard into Monday, lower again Tuesday morning and then got the Tuesday afternoon reversal rally. It would seem that we would need to test yesterday’s lows and, maybe more than once, to be able to declare that this event is over for the time being. We spoke a lot today about the backdrop for the decline and what seems to have triggered all the crazy volatility. These moves are driven by algorithms, machines and bat bets by those who thought volatility was dead for good. Well, it is not. Give us a call if you have any thoughts or questions. We’ll get you through all this. As we reiterated today, volatility is the premium paid to grow your money. The free ride of 2017 is over, and we’ll likely settle into something more normal.
Have a nice evening everyone.
