Friends

While the markets try to handicap the Israeli/Iranian conflict, the Fed has an FOMC meeting this week. We will get the Fed statement and the Fed Chair’s press conference on Wednesday. With everything that is going on the Fed is surely just going to stand pat at this time with regards to interest rates and monetary policy in general. Seemingly pleased with how things are playing out in the Middle East, stocks rallied early in the day and though some of the gains were surrendered, the bulls were able to keep stocks higher for the day.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 317 points to finish the day at 42,515. The S&P 500 was up 56 points to close at 6,033. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 294 to close at 19,701. Gold was down $46 to trade at $3,406 per ounce, while oil was down $1.60 to trade at $71.38 per barrel WTI.

We will also get a look at retail sales tomorrow. So far, the consumer has been able to keep the economy afloat over these past few years. It will be interesting to see if we start to see cracks if there are any cracks in that narrative developing. Stay tuned, it’s likely to be a very interesting week.

Have a nice evening everyone.