Friends
Well, it had to end someday. Yes, the streak of up Tuesdays ended today. After twenty Tuesdays in a row of stocks being up, we finally had a down day for the major averages on a Tuesday. The main culprit seems to be the musings of Kansas City Fed Governor Esther George (a known hawk), as she expounded on the evils of quantitative easing. Nothing new here, but for goodness sake we had to go down on a Tuesday at some point. I think more important is the fact that some doubt has now entered the minds of the bulls. They have been flogging the bears for so long they may have started to think that this ride would never end. Well, as we always point out, risk happens fast. That does not mean that we are necessarily going to have a major downturn, but only reminds us that markets go both ways and knowing one’s risk parameters is always important.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 76 points to finish the day at 15,177. The S&P 500 was down 9 points to close at 1631. Gold was down $13 to trade at $1398 per ounce, while oil was up $.04 to trade at $93.49 per barrel WTI. Yes, it was a down day, but could have been worse as the Dow was down over 150 points at one point during the session. The bulls tried to save the day, bringing the Dow back to only down 30 points in the last hour, but ran out of gas at the end.
We continue to wonder whether to root for good news or bad news on the economic front (I’m being facetious as we always want the good news), especially on Friday when the all- important jobs number comes out. If more than 200,000 jobs are created, the cry that the Fed will begin to take the punch bowl away will permeate the airways and stocks may react negatively. Then again, if the number is a disaster, then maybe the Fed remains accommodative even longer. Stocks have enjoyed that for 4 years now. Hmmm- what to wish for?
Have a nice evening everyone.
