Friends
Last week’s wild trading swings continued today with stocks moving smartly to the upside. Nasdaq led the way as the biggest percentage winner, but this morning’s Bank of America earnings release helped the bank be one of the day’s biggest winners.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 550 points to finish the day at 30,185. The S&P 500 was up 94 points to close at 3,677. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 354 points to close at 10,675. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1,653 per ounce, while oil was down $.17 to trade at $85.44 per barrel WTI.
This is a tricky moment in this bear market. We might be at a point where inflation has peaked (or not), and stocks have been repriced adequately- at least for the moment. But the problem is we really won’t know for some time. Are corporate earnings going to rapidly decline into early next year as most pundits believe? (If so, then stocks still have some wood to chop.) Will the looming elections change the sentiment going into the end of the year? Are interest rates about as high as they are going to get (remember the Fed is behind the market). As we get through October, we enter what is typically a good season for stocks. It should be an interesting 4th quarter. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
