GM To Lay Off 14,000; Stocks Stumble To Gains

With news that General Motors (GM) would lay off 14,000 workers and shut down five plants, the mood on Wall Street at the opening bell was more than a little bit sour. It was just the kind of news that the market didn't want to hear, especially after some smashing numbers from Black Friday retail sales and even more good news from Cyber Monday's online commerce.

The Dow sank more than 200 points in the first half hour of trading, but from there took the path of least resistance, to the upside, extending Monday's rally with a little hiccup from some morning indigestion. While the Dow posted a fair gain, the other indices didn't do much, with the NASDAQ and NYSE Composite barely making it above unchanged. The S&P shook out some shorts for a third of a percent win.

Everything else was pretty ugly. Oil posted a minor gain, though there are few in the real world who believe the selloff in crude - as with stocks - is over. Precious metals were slammed close to recent lows and seem to have no ballast, the past three months nothing but a rollover and consolidation with a focus to the negative. The metals can't break to the upside as long as every other asset class is struggling; the current logic dictating that stocks must regain a positive footing and absent that, nothing else matters.

Today's trade was mostly noise. Nothing really moved the meter and it was a little bit of a surprise that stocks rallied as well as they did. Stocks remain week and investors weary. While that's a solid formula for further declines, the day-trading flogs and HFTs have managed to keep stocks from completely folding up their tents. That, and a healthy dose of holiday cheer should keep things stabilized... until they're not.

Dow Jones Industrial Average November Scorecard:

Date	Close	Gain/Loss	Cum. G/L
11/1/18	25,380.74	+264.98	+264.98
11/2/18	25,270.83	-109.91	+155.07
11/5/18	25,461.70	+190.87	+345.94
11/6/18	25,635.01	+173.31	+519.25
11/7/18	26,180.30	+545.29	+1064.54
11/8/18	26,191.22	+10.92	+1075.46
11/9/18	25,989.30	-201.92	+873.54
11/12/18	25,387.18	-602.12	+271.42
11/13/18	25,286.49	-100.69	+170.27
11/14/18	25,080.50	-205.99	-35.72
11/15/18	25,289.27	+208.77	+173.05
11/16/18	25,413.22	+123.95	+297.00
11/19/18	25,017.44	-395.78	-98.78
11/20/18	24,465.64	-551.80	-650.58
11/21/18	24,464.69	-0.95	-651.53
11/23/18	24,285.95	-178.74	-830.27
11/26/18	24,640.24	+354.29	-475.98
11/27/18	24,748.73	+108.49	-367.49

At the Close, Tuesday, November 27, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,748.73, +108.49 (+0.44%)
NASDAQ: 7,082.70, +0.85 (+0.01%)
S&P 500: 2,682.20, +8.75 (+0.33%)
NYSE Composite: 12,188.06, +6.46 (+0.05%)