Friends

A benign CPI number and reports of a trade deal with the Chinese helped stocks get off to a good start this morning. But as the trading session wore on those gains disappeared and the market averages ended the day in negative territory. I think we saw a little “buy the rumor sell the news” set up going into today’s trading. It will be interesting to see if the bulls rally the troops over the next couple of days.

As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1 point to finish the day at 42,865. The S&P 500 was down 16 points to close at 6,022. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 99 points to close at 19,615. Gold was up $25 to trade at $3,369 per ounce, while oil was up $2.87 to trade at $67.85 per barrel WTI.

With inflation continuing to moderate the road to lower interest rates might be more open to the Fed. But there are many who are concerned that we will see inflation rear its ugly head in the second half of the year. The Fed is likely to continue to be patient, at least until economic data forces their hand. In the meantime, let’s see how the rest of the week unfolds.

Have a nice evening everyone.