thependulumswings

Friends

Now that we all know that we’ll all be in our homes for a least another month, I guess we’re going to have to come up with new ways to entertain ourselves. I went out at lunchtime and started my car (hadn’t in 15 days). It still works. Let me know if you have any fun ideas.

As for the markets, the news that the doctors and scientists are dictating policy actually seemed to come as a bit of relief to investors. Also, we continue to get encouraging news about vaccines and therapeutics, and that is certainly a positive for the market psyche. But, the damage to the economy is still going to an unknown that investors are going to have to deal with as the weeks and months go by.

As for today, stocks spent the day in positive territory and volatility actually wasn’t that bad. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 690 points to finish the day at 22,327. The S&P 500 was up 85 points to close at 2,626. Gold was down $19 to trade at $1,635 per ounce, while oil was down $1.41 to trade at $20.10 per barrel WTI.

The quarter ends tomorrow, so there is hope that portfolio rebalancing might add a little more fuel to today’s rally. But, as we move into the second quarter, the unknowns greatly outweigh the knowns. We need to prepare ourselves for more volatility going forward, as headlines from day to day are sure to be challenging. First, let’s see how the quarter finishes out tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim