Friends

It was a very strange day in the markets. Before another concerning inflation number was released this morning, bonds were rallying sending interest rates substantially lower. The 10-year yield was at 5.32% early yesterday and fell to 5.05% by this morning. That is a massive move for bonds. Traders attributed the move to concerns about AI and tech and a sort of “flight to quality”. Even after the PPI number was released bond yields remained lower.

Stocks were mixed early with modest gains in the Dow while Nasdaq was down almost 1.5%. But as the day wore on the Nasdaq recovered and the Dow pushed higher. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 556 points to finish the day at 52,177. The S&P 500 was up 25 points to close at 7,744. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 20 points to close at 26,713. Gold was up $73 to trade at $4,181 per ounce, while oil was up $2.57 to trade at $97.66 per barrel WTI. 1

What a strange day, indeed. Stocks higher, bonds higher, gold higher, oil higher. These things had been moving in different directions. I’m not sure what the takeaway is other than the markets can confound you sometimes. Better to confound us to the upside, I guess.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim