Friends,
Stocks continued their quiet but deliberate climb today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 45 points to finish the day at 12,623. The S&P 500 was up 6 points to close at 1314. Gold was down $3.20 to trade near the $1656 area, and oil was again nearly unchanged to close near $100.41 per barrel WTI.
On the technical front it was nice to see the S&P stay comfortably above 1300. Technicians are looking for a weekly close, this week and next, over 1308 to confirm the uptrend. Volatility has decreased immensely so far this year. After last year’s roller coaster ride, it almost seems eerily quiet.
On the economic front, the CPI number this morning was tepid and the weekly jobless claims number was a winner coming in at 352,000. The Philly Fed number which hit later in the morning didn’t move the needle one way or the other on stocks. The domestic economic picture on the whole continues to slightly improve.
On the earnings front, Bank of America somewhat pleased shareholders with an earnings report that met expectations, but as analyst drilled down, the shares gave back most of their early gains. After the close today, we get a bevy of earnings from tech companies including Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Google. We’ll let you know tomorrow how it all plays out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
