Friends
Despite a plethora of uninspiring economic news, including a disappointing weekly jobless claims number, a final look at 4th quarter GDP and a lousy Chicago PMI number, stocks held a positive bias all day long. A relatively calm situation developed in Cypress as the good citizens behaved themselves as they stood in line to take out the 300 euros that they were allowed to withdraw (it looked like there were as many members of the press as there were bank depositors). All this led traders to take a shot at the S&P all-time high.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 52 points to close at 14,578. The S&P 500 did make it to an all-time new high as the broad average posted a gain of 6 points to finish the day and the quarter at 1569. Gold was down $10 to trade at $1596 per ounce. That’s the second down quarter in a row for gold. Oil was up $.52 to trade at $97.10 per barrel WTI.
It was a wonderful quarter for stocks which took just about everyone by surprise. At the end of 2012, we were concerned about “fiscal cliffs”, dysfunctional governments and slowing corporate earnings, but stocks climbed a wall of worry all quarter long. Can we continue to set new highs into the second quarter of the year, or will we run into the old “sell in May and go away” that we have seen for the past few years? We’ll be here to let you know how the new quarter unfolds. Remember we have the employment report and the beginning of earnings season coming shortly. Are stocks priced appropriately? We’ll soon find out.
Have a great Easter weekend everyone.
