Friends
For years now we have seen disruptive days like the one we saw for stocks yesterday followed by heightened volatility. Today was no different with stocks moving nicely higher at the open, only to run into selling that sent the market averages back down into negative territory by late morning. But stocks regrouped once again to move back into positive territory midday only to be met by sellers and pushing the market averages back into the red. You get the point. The back and forth continued throughout the afternoon only to resolve itself in a modest loss for stocks at the close.
For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 50 points to finish the day at 33,919. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to close at 4,354. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 32 points to close at 14,746. Gold was up $11 to trade at $1,775 per ounce, while oil was up $.22 to trade at $70.51 per barrel WTI.
I’m old school and would have preferred more of a turnaround Tuesday where stocks continue the Monday selloff and then reverse course to move higher by the close. So much of that is conditioned into me from the crash of Monday, October 19, 1987. On Tuesday the 20th stocks plunged further in the morning only to turn and post big gains by the close. We market veterans (old guys) are always looking for the next turnaround Tuesday which nowadays seem to never actually happen. So much of these moves nowadays are predicated on technical levels that all traders are watching at the same time. Anyway, increased volatility has become the norm after days like yesterday.
We have the conclusion of an FOMC meeting tomorrow, so all eyes will be on the Fed and Chair Powell. Will he announce when the tapering process will begin? We’ll let you know. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
