Friends

Despite rising interest rates, stocks were able to tack on some decent gains today. Oil prices were down so that helped, and perhaps maybe market participants are getting used to bonds selling off every day. I can’t help but think that either the stock market is getting it wrong or the bond market is. My experience says that the bond market is usually right, at least eventually. But we will see.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 90 points to close at 51,267. The S&P 500 was up 51 points to finish the day at 7,773. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 286 points to close at 27,477. Gold was up $7 to trade at $4,169 per ounce, while oil was down $2.06 to trade at $89.05 per barrel WTI.

Interestingly the short end of the bond market seems to have peaked in yields while the longer end continues higher. That’s a steepening of the yield curve, not necessarily a bad thing if the markets can get used to the whole curve sitting at higher levels. As I have said all year, the stock market’s resilience has been impressive.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim