Friends
We lost a true American icon yesterday with the death of Steve Jobs, the leader and face of Apple. His unique vision and ability to shape the future lands him among the great icons of American history. His company will go on, but it remains to be seen if he is ever really able to be replaced. Let’s hope the next Steve Jobs is out there in America about to wow the world over the coming years.
As for the markets, stocks rallied for the third day in a row as the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 183 points. The S&P 500 was up more than 20 points to close at 1164. It appears that after the violation of the 1101 support level on Monday, we have returned to our trading range between 1100 and 1200. From the lows of 1072 on Tuesday morning, the S&P 500 has rallied back more than 8.5% in two days. Tomorrow’s non-farm payroll number will set the tone for the direction of stocks, so we’ll see where the S&P finishes the week. Gold was up slightly for the day trading near $1652 at the close, and oil, after trading as low as $75 per barrel WTI earlier in the week, rallied back to the $82.50 area.
Europe has calmed the last few days as the powers that be seem to be at least acknowledging what is needed (capitalize “tarp” the banks), but it remains to be seen if they can agree on how to get the “bailout” of Greece done and who will have to take the haircuts. The weekly unemployment claims number was slightly back up over 400,000, but most of the market sentiment will hinge on tomorrows employment report.
We’ll let you know what happens tomorrow. Have a nice evening everyone.
