Friends

The first set of bank earnings were not too bad. Goldman, Citi, Wells and JP Morgan all traded lower but the results were mixed. Often the banks set the tone for earnings season but given the shares of most banks have struggled lately because of the rise in interest rates, no one really expected them to move the needle at the moment.

As for the market in general, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 180 points to finish the day at 51,670. The S&P 500 was down 1 point to close at 7,805. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 41 points to close at 27,204. Gold was down $2 to trade at $4,188 per ounce, while oil was up $.75 to trade at $94.49 per barrel WTI.

United Health and J&J both reported this morning. Again, decent results but the stocks didn’t respond well. Bonds were mostly quiet today, while oil prices inched higher. It looks like we are going to have to see some stellar earnings reports to move stocks higher from these levels.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim