Friends

Similar to yesterday, stocks were doing just fine until word out of the White House was that tariffs are on (25%) for February 1st for both Canada and Mexico. Once again, the tariff talk sent stocks lower and bond yields higher. Many stocks had big reversals today, including Apple whose earnings sent the shares higher in early trading only to see those gains evaporate as the trading session wore on.

As for the market averages, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 337 points to finish the day at 44,544. The S&P 500 was down 30 points to close at 6,040. Nasdaq was down 54 points to close at 19,627. Gold was down $19 to trade at $2,826 per ounce, while oil was down $.16 to trade at $72.57 per barrel WTI.

It was a wild week, with some volatile intraday moves. The week started Monday with Nvidia collapsing and the roller coaster ride continued from there. We had the Fed stand pat on rates, the President threatening tariffs, and earnings from many of the biggest companies in America. That the S&P 500 was down only 1% for the week seems like a win given the headwinds the bulls faced. Let’s see what next week has in store for us. We’ll be here to let you know.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jim