Friends

For the 5^th year in a row stocks moved lower on the last trading session of the year. It has really become a familiar pattern, especially in years that have seen the market averages make new highs. For the most part, market participants do all of their holiday buying long before the last few sessions leaving a vacuum for last minute tax loss sellers to sell into. I wouldn’t read much into it other than the fabled Santa Claus rally has for the most part disappeared. If up years end up costing us the Santa Clause year end rally, so be it.

As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 303 points to finish the day at 48,063. The S&P 500 was down 50 points to close at 6,845 . The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 177 points to close at 23,241. Gold was down $55 to trade at $4,331 per ounce, while oil was down $.50 to trade at $57.45 per barrel WTI.

Well, another year over. It was a good one in general for the markets but more importantly I hope you were able to enjoy the holiday season with family and friends. From all of here at CHJ…

Happy New Year!