Dull Day for Stocks; So Everybody Sold Their Gold and Silver

It doesn't get much duller than today's action, but Friday, Monday and Tuesday - leading up to the FOMC announcement Wednesday - may qualify as even duller.

There's nothing pushing markets in either direction presently, but that will change soon, as the Fed announces (or doesn't) tapering of their monthly bond purchases and politicians in Washington begin the annual mud-slinging that so defines the budget and debt ceiling process.

For today, however, the Dow ended a string of three straight sessions in which it gained over 100 points and the S&P ended a string of seven consecutive days of gains.

Unemployment claims came in far lower than expectations, but the Labor Department said it was due to a couple of states faulty reporting and changes in methodology, so the market simply ignored what was an outlying, absurd number, which we won't even bother to post.

Gold and silver had their worst day in more than two months, the precious metals giving up most of their recent gains. One could supposedly blame that selloff on the cooling of tensions over Syria, but, then why didn't crude oil fall as well?

Not everything correlates perfectly anymore.

Get ready for fireworks the last two weeks of the month and especially on October 1, when the Affordable Care Act (ACA, ObamaCare) opens exchanges for individuals without coverage and, at the same time, the government might shut down. Those two occurring at the same time are mutually exclusive, so we'll side with the government shutdown and hope it lasts into the next century or thereabout.

We all could do with a LOT less government.

Dow 15,300.64, -25.96 (0.17%)
Nasdaq 3,715.97, -9.04 (0.24%)
S&P 500 1,683.42, -5.71 (0.34%)
10-Yr Bond 2.91%, -0.01
NYSE Volume 3,331,375,750
Nasdaq Volume 1,610,354,125
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2253-4282
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 261-71
WTI crude oil: 108.60, +1.04
Gold: 1,330.60, -33.20
Silver: 22.15, -1.023