Friends

Well, that was an interesting day. This morning, we got a relatively benign inflation reading, the PCE (personal consumption expenditures price) index and stocks seemed to want to move higher especially after the selling pressure we have seen this week. But then a very contentious meeting at the White House between President Trump and President Zelenskyy sent stocks tumbling midday. But the bulls regrouped and moved stocks higher in the last hour of trading.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 601 points to finish the day at 43,840. The S&P 500 was up 92 points to close at 5,954. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 302 points to close at 18,847. Gold was down $36 to trade at $2,859 per ounce, while oil was down $.42 to trade at $69.93 per barrel WTI.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen the fear of an economic slowdown take its toll on stocks. Interest rates have come down also but not because of inflation abating but because of slowing economic fears. Again, today was an emotionally charged trading session so I wouldn’t read too much into it, but sentiment has gotten very negative very quickly. Sometimes that can lead to a short-term rally. But of course, the negative sentiment develops for a reason. There is a lot of uncertainty hanging over the markets-policy uncertainty and economic uncertainty. Anyway, we’ll regroup, marinate some ice cubes this weekend and be back with you on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jim