Friends

Despite the mixed messaging coming from The White House and various trading partners around the world, stocks were mostly calm today with an upward tilt. After Monday’s meltdown, stocks recovered nicely as the week unfolded. Typically bear market rallies are short and sweet, so it is nice to see this rally have a little staying power. Again, we are not throwing any parties yet, but at least the bulls have things moving in their direction at the moment.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 20 points to close at 40,113. The S&P 500 was up 40 points to finish the day at 5,525. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 216 points to close at 17,382. Gold was down $32 to trade at $3,316 per ounce, while oil was up $.35 to trade at $63.14 per barrel WTI.

What might be most encouraging about the last couple of days is the rally in bonds. The 10-year Treasury Note yield dropped back down towards 4.26%. Again, kind of odd that it’s moving in the same direction as stocks, but I’ll take a little bond market strength right now. So, in the end a good week for the bulls, but I don’t think that they have mounted an attack that can take the high ground from the bears just yet. Let’s see how next week goes. Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jim