Friends

The market averages, mainly the Dow Jones Industrial Average, began the day lower after a large drop in the shares of Dow component United Healthcare plummeted on news of a Justice Department investigation. Then word of a new corona virus out of China sent shares tumbling even lower midday. Now before you get too worked up about a new virus, the report is from the Chinese lab in Wuhan (yes that one again) where they discovered a new virus in the lab (yes, they are still experimenting evidently). As long as it stays in the lab, I’m guessing everything will be just fine. Anyway, stocks were significantly lower for the second day in a row.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 748 points to finish the day at 43,428. The S&P 500 was down 104 points to close at 6,013. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 438 points to close at 19,524. Gold was down $7 to trade at $2,949 per ounce, while oil was down $2.18 to trade at $70.30 per barrel WTI.

After the markets appeared to be oblivious to things for the past few weeks, we have seen over the past two trading sessions that worries are seeping into the narrative. Will growth slow? Those worries appear to be coming into play. Bond yields dropped over the past two sessions and growth stocks saw selling. I don’t want to read too much into a couple days of trading, but for the first time since the inauguration the markets appeared to be moving negatively on headlines. We get Nvidia earnings next week so that will be a market mover. In the meantime, …

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jim