Friends

The bulls are trying to finish April on a high note as stocks continue to add to their winning streak. Earnings have been ok and tariff rhetoric has been softening. We’ll get both inflation and jobs data as the rest of the week unfolds, and earnings from Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. But given how the month started and continued declining confidence numbers the bulls should be quite satisfied with the current winning streak. Volatility has lessened and the bond market has strengthened- both helpful and constructive.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 300 points to finish the day at 40,527. The S&P 500 was up 32 points to close at 5,560. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 95 points to close at 17,461. Gold was down $14 to trade at $3,332 per ounce, while oil was down $1.77 to trade at $60.28 per barrel WTI.

If my math is correct the S&P 500 is down a bit more than 5% for the year and a bit less than 10% from the February highs. If we have seen the worst of it then it will prove to have been nothing more than an average pullback that just briefly touched bear market territory. But of course, things quickly change these days so we will remain cautiously optimistic but nimble.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim