Summer Trading Is Typically Slow; Precious Metals Hammered Of Late

Low volume and tight ranges on all the indices are telling the obvious. It's summer, many large traders are off to vacation spots, investors are sitting pat, and, despite it being the heart of second quarter earnings season, there simply isn't anything to get truly excited about, either on the bull or the bear side.

The Dow spent the entire session within a 90-point range, never falling more than 40 points from the pervious close, finishing the day with a modest gain. The Dow has finished higher eight of the 10 trading days in July.

There's more action in commodities of late, especially in the precious metals, which have been sliding for the past month after peaking short-term in mid-June. Silver slipped below $15 per ounce last week and has been trading in a tight range between $15.70 and $15.95. It appears that hopes for a rebound in real money have been dashed once again and gold also is trading at a one-year low, $1240 per troy ounce.

The price of crude took a hit today as well, with WTI finishing below $68 per barrel for the first time since June 25. The market is fully saturated and demand is flat, so prices should move down gradually for raw crude as well as gas at the pump.

This is really one of the more disinterested or distracted markets in some time. Likely, it's best to sit and wait for some indicator to signal direction.

Dow Jones Industrial Average July Scorecard:

Date	Close	Gain/Loss	Cum. G/L
7/2/18	24,307.18	+35.77	+35.77
7/3/18	24,174.82	-132.36	-96.59
7/5/18	24,345.44	+181.92	+85.33
7/6/18	24,456.48	+99.74	+185.07
7/9/18	24,776.59	+320.11	+505.18
7/10/18	24,919.66	+143.07	+648.25
7/11/18	24,700.45	-219.21	+429.04
7/12/18	24,924.89	+224.44	+653.48
7/13/18	25,019.41	+94.52	+748.00
7/16/18	25,064.36	+44.95	+792.95

At the Close, Monday, July 16, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 25,064.36, +44.95 (+0.18%)
NASDAQ: 7,805.72, -20.26 (-0.26%)
S&P 500: 2,798.43, -2.88 (-0.10%)
NYSE Composite: 12,748.78, -20.73 (-0.16%)