thependulumswings

Friends

Wait a minute, stocks were supposed to be down pretty big today given the tensions with Iran that seemed to escalate over the weekend. Indeed, stocks did open down this morning to the tune of a few hundred Dow points or so, but as the trading session wore on, more and more buyers appeared and stocks forced their way into positive territory. Leading the way on the upside were the old large cap growth names like Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple and Netflix.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 68 points to finish the day at 28,703. The S&P 500 was up 11 points to close at 3,246. Gold was up $15 to trade at $1,568 per ounce, while oil was down $.28 to trade at $62.77 per barrel WTI.

The bears have to be frustrated. After all the political and impeachment wrangling didn’t derail stocks, conflict in the Middle East had to look like the lottery ticket that they had been praying for. After a couple of days, that looks to be already dissipating. Of course, it’s still early with regards to the Iranian tensions, so we will see. Earnings season will shortly be upon us, but the comparisons year over year should begin to get a little more favorable, which would be another slight breeze at the back of the bulls. So much to sift through at the moment. This should be an interesting few weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

Jim