thependulumswings

Friends

Well, it appears that the old worrier indeed had something to worry about. Stocks collapsed today, perhaps on fears that the Covid-19 pandemic still is anything but in the past, or as a continuation of yesterday’s concerns over Fed Chair Powell’s less than encouraging outlook of the economy. Now, remember, we have seen a two month advance in stocks that was reaching historic proportions, so to give some back is certainly not something that we normally would be concerned about. What does get our attention these days is the speed at which things happen. You know the old adage that the stock market takes the escalator up and then takes the elevator down. Many of the moves we’ve seen in 2020 have been breathtaking. Today’s was no exception.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,861 points to finish the day at 25,128. The S&P 500 was down 188 points to close at 3,002. Gold was up $13 to trade at $1,734 per ounce, while oil was down $3.92 to trade at $35.68 per barrel WTI.

We had been chalking up one great week after another for stocks, but this week has certainly been a different story. Whether a little bit of economic reality has been introduced into the discussion or just a cooling off period, the pullback is not really unexpected. We had risen nearly 45% off the lows of March 23^rd. Even the bulls would agree that would call for a little digestion before strapping on the feed bag again. Let’s catch our breath and see how the week finishes up tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Jim