Friends

More than any real selling pressure it just felt like there just weren’t any market participants interested in buying today. The market averages are flirting with all-time highs, but it appears the bulls are a little tentative about taking the plunge into those record all-time high waters. The Fed Chair finished his 2 days of testimony on Capitol Hill with the major takeaway being that he wants to see what the tariffs will actually be before committing to lowering the Fed Funds rate. Market participants are concerned he might wait too long. We know the President is not pleased with his “patience”.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 106 points to close at 42,982. The S&P 500 was down a fraction to finish the day at 6,092. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 61 points to close at 19,973. Gold was up $16 to trade at $3,350 per ounce, while oil was up $.84 to trade at $65.21 per barrel WTI.

Back to the Fed for a second. It appears that the hope that the Fed would begin to lower rates again starting at the July FOMC meeting might have been dashed by the Fed Chair for now, and that might have taken the wind out of the bull’s sails for today’s trading session. Things could change, of course, but there doesn’t seem to be market moving headlines coming until next week’s jobs report. In the meantime, we’ll see if the bulls can hold firm until quarter end.

Have a nice evening everyone.