Friends

What a wild month of trading. Dramatic selloffs, breathtaking rallies. April had it all. Today we saw stocks sell off rather substantially at the open after we got a negative first quarter GDP print and a weaker than expected private payroll number. The contraction of the economy was stunning given that the previous quarter still had growth of 2.40%. Some of the weakness can be explained by a surge in imports the previous quarter but the decline in consumer spending was concerning. But as the trading session wore on the bulls were determined to end April on a high note and they did.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 141 points to finish the day at 40,669. The S&P 500 was up 8 points to close at 5,569. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 14 points to close at 17,446. Gold was down $29 to trade at $3,304 per ounce, while oil was down $2.24 to trade at $58.18 per barrel WTI.

As mentioned, April was as volatile a month of trading as maybe I have ever seen. The good news is that investors are looking through some of the noise lately and investing for what they believe will be a better future. There is likely to be more volatility for a while but as I’ve mentioned a few times it was just nice to see stocks go up for a few days. Earnings have been ok, but we are seeing some wild moves after companies’ report. Anyway, April is now behind us. The S&P was only down a fraction in the end and Nasdaq was actually up for the month. Holy moly. Let’s catch our breath and see how May kicks off tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim