Highly anticipated all week, the November Non-farm payroll report from the BLS showed 203,000 jobs created during the month. The official unemployment rate fell to 7.0%, which, for all intents and purposes, is pretty close to not just the Fed's 6.5% target for raising interest rates, but not too distant from what is regarded as full employment at five percent unemployed.
Initially thought to be a negative if the number came in anywhere above official estimates of 185,000, index futures got ramped higher and stocks were off to the races, opening with a huge gap higher and maintaining price levels throughout the final session of the first week of December.
For the week, the Dow was down just 66.21 points; the S&P missed closing positive by a mere 0.72; and, the NASDAQ actually closed in the green for the week by 2.63 points.
Opinions varied widely about what the movement in stocks meant, based upon the potential for tapering of the bond buying program by the Fed. In general terms, the Fed now has Wall Street's tacit approval to begin winding down the $85 billion a month program as early as this month. either that, or today's trading, and all the supposed "fearful profit taking" of the first four days of the week were simply short-term momentum trades, rooted in absolutely nothing.
In any case, those who were short the market for the better part of the first four days of the week and then went long at the close on Thursday (cue insider bankster types) were big winners. Anybody who waited for the number to be released prior to the opening on Friday, ate dust.
And that, my friends, is how the game is played. Good news may very well be perceived as bad news, until the size players decide that good news is good news, after all. Pure thievery at a high level is probably the most apt description of how this week played out. A telltale sign was the absurdly low volume, especially coming in anticipation, and, on the heels of a critically "important" number.
Thank goodness, Christmas is less than three weeks away and the retailers haven't had much to say, but that card will be turned shortly, and it could be a wild one.
DOW 16,020.20, +198.69 (+1.26%)
NASDAQ 4,062.52, +29.36 (+0.73%)
S&P 1,805.09, +20.06 (+1.12%)
10-Yr Note 99.03, +0.74 (+0.76%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.49 Bil
NYSE Volume 2.74 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3965-1711
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 310-112
WTI crude oil: 97.65, +0.27
Gold: 1,229.00, -2.90
Silver: 19.52, -0.047
Corn: 434.25, +0.75
Friday, December 6, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Dow, S&P Post Fifth Straight Losing Session; Fed Tapering Fears to Blame
Stcks took another turn lower on Thursday after the government reported its second estimate of GDP for the third quarter grew at a rate of 3.6%, far ahed of even the most bullish estimates and a dramatic revision from the first estimate of 2.8% growth.
Inside the numbers, more than half of the GDP push was due to inventory builds, the consumer spending portion of the calculation lower than previous quarters. Additionally, the govenment changed the way it calculates GD per the second quarter, so the adjusted figures include intangible assets (normally treated as liabilities on any corporate balance sheet, but as growth assets according to the infamous trick economists the government employs). All estimates of GDP from the second quarter of 2013 onward, and especially during the initial quarters through the second quarter of 2014, should be viewed as more mark-to-fantasy accounting by the government, designed to make the economy look better than it actually is.
The new calculus of GDP is a double-edged sword going forward, as higher GDP emotes thoughts of Fed tapering of bond purchases, currently the lifeblood of the stock markets. While it looks good on the surface, the net effect in stocks is negative, for now.
In some glorious, imagined future world, higher GDP, based on various faulty assumptions, will produce a happiness effect or contentment, which, along with the Fed's highly-dubious but nonetheless heavily-touted "wealth effect" will be hailed as the outcome of successful Fed policies or some other rubbish, and, which the lazy, out-of-touch politicians in congress and the White House can somehow claim credit.
Sadly, or perhaps happily, in this good-news-is-bad-news regime, the headline-munching algos controlling the stock market can't read between the lines and are programmed to sell on economic improvement, whether the data is flawed or pristine. The Wall Street herd (and it is nothing other than herd mentality dictating direction) is equally deficient by buying into flawed data, but those are the cards issued by the underhanded Fed bottom-card-dealing Fed. The choice to raise, hold or fold is entirely up to the traders, though at this juncture, they're collecting their profits and running from the gaming tables in advance of november non-farm payrolls, due out Friday at 8:30 am ET.
The other number issued today was courtesy of the BLS in weekly initial jobless claims, coming in at 298,000, a six-year low, the good news just adding more melancholy to traders who have brought the Dow and S&P indices lower for the fifth straight session.
Those paying attention to internals will note that the advance-decline line continues to erode, and that new lows finally overtook new highs today, for the first time since early October. Those two indicators will be supplying signals beyond the November non-farm payroll data tomorrow and should be viewed as the least-abused and most reliable signs for market direction.
Precius metals were hammered lower once again, though nary a gold or silver bug can be heard complaining, considering the lowered prices to be akin to a pre-Christmas sale on the metals.
DOW 15,821.51, -68.26 (-0.43%)
NASDAQ 4,033.16, -4.84 (-0.12%)
S&P 1,785.03, -7.78 (-0.43%)
10-Yr Note 99.08 0.00 (0.00%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.79 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.30 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2217-3433
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 127-164
WTI crude oil: 97.38, -0.18
Gold: 1,231.90, -15.30
Silver: 19.57, -0.26
Corn: 433.50, -3.00
Inside the numbers, more than half of the GDP push was due to inventory builds, the consumer spending portion of the calculation lower than previous quarters. Additionally, the govenment changed the way it calculates GD per the second quarter, so the adjusted figures include intangible assets (normally treated as liabilities on any corporate balance sheet, but as growth assets according to the infamous trick economists the government employs). All estimates of GDP from the second quarter of 2013 onward, and especially during the initial quarters through the second quarter of 2014, should be viewed as more mark-to-fantasy accounting by the government, designed to make the economy look better than it actually is.
The new calculus of GDP is a double-edged sword going forward, as higher GDP emotes thoughts of Fed tapering of bond purchases, currently the lifeblood of the stock markets. While it looks good on the surface, the net effect in stocks is negative, for now.
In some glorious, imagined future world, higher GDP, based on various faulty assumptions, will produce a happiness effect or contentment, which, along with the Fed's highly-dubious but nonetheless heavily-touted "wealth effect" will be hailed as the outcome of successful Fed policies or some other rubbish, and, which the lazy, out-of-touch politicians in congress and the White House can somehow claim credit.
Sadly, or perhaps happily, in this good-news-is-bad-news regime, the headline-munching algos controlling the stock market can't read between the lines and are programmed to sell on economic improvement, whether the data is flawed or pristine. The Wall Street herd (and it is nothing other than herd mentality dictating direction) is equally deficient by buying into flawed data, but those are the cards issued by the underhanded Fed bottom-card-dealing Fed. The choice to raise, hold or fold is entirely up to the traders, though at this juncture, they're collecting their profits and running from the gaming tables in advance of november non-farm payrolls, due out Friday at 8:30 am ET.
The other number issued today was courtesy of the BLS in weekly initial jobless claims, coming in at 298,000, a six-year low, the good news just adding more melancholy to traders who have brought the Dow and S&P indices lower for the fifth straight session.
Those paying attention to internals will note that the advance-decline line continues to erode, and that new lows finally overtook new highs today, for the first time since early October. Those two indicators will be supplying signals beyond the November non-farm payroll data tomorrow and should be viewed as the least-abused and most reliable signs for market direction.
Precius metals were hammered lower once again, though nary a gold or silver bug can be heard complaining, considering the lowered prices to be akin to a pre-Christmas sale on the metals.
DOW 15,821.51, -68.26 (-0.43%)
NASDAQ 4,033.16, -4.84 (-0.12%)
S&P 1,785.03, -7.78 (-0.43%)
10-Yr Note 99.08 0.00 (0.00%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.79 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.30 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2217-3433
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 127-164
WTI crude oil: 97.38, -0.18
Gold: 1,231.90, -15.30
Silver: 19.57, -0.26
Corn: 433.50, -3.00
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Stocks Plunge, Recover, End Flat on Fed's Beige Book, Data
A raft of economic news hit the street on Wednesday, but, for the most part, all it did was add to the confusion surrounding the Fed's bond-buying scheme and Friday's non-farm payroll release for November.
Leading off the hit parade - prior to the open - was ADP's November private payroll number, gushing at a robust 215,000 new jobs created during the month, which turned futures sour and set a negative tone for the session (remember, good news is bad because the Fed would likely diminish the free money carry trade known as QE).
Then came data on the US trade deficit, which narrowed to $40.6 billion, more good news. New home sales surged 25%, though the median price declined slightly, another positive for the economy.
The mood changed with ISM Services data, showing a slowing from 55.4 in October to 53.9 in November. Overall, the mood on Wall Street turned to fear of an improving economy (sad, but true how twisted the logic is), sending stocks to their lows of the session around midday.
With the Dow off 125 points and the other major indices following suit, the Fed's beige book was released at 2:00 pm ET, and, apparently, enough investors and traders found enough evidence to believe that the Fed was nowhere close to tapering their bond purchases, igniting a rally that sent the Dow into positive territory briefly in the final half hour of trading.
While this is a plausible explanation of the day's roller coaster activity, some did not get the memo or read the tea leaves of the Fed clearly enough, as the rally sizzled, then fizzled into the close, leaving the Dow and S&P modestly lower, the NASDAQ up a couple of points.
At the end of the day, it was a big, fat, nothing=burger, though some adroit day-traders certainly cashed in on the movement and momentum.
With the Dow down for the third time in three December days, it marks the first time that's happened to start a month since September, 2011.
The BLS monthly non-farm payroll report will be released Friday morning, leaving Thursday as a kind of limbo trade. Based on the smashing results of the ADP report, expectations are for a boffo government report, producing, alas, another downdraft on stocks. such is the madness that moves markets in the age of QEternity and ZIRP until the end of time.
Thursday, therefore, would be a good day to relax, take some time off and buy some gold or silver, both of which saw heavy buying after weeks and weeks of relentless selling. A bottom may have been put in on the precious metals, or not. In any case, they're very cheap compared to prices over the past three years. Besides, they're shiny and guaranteed not to rust.
Bonds sold off, with the 10-year note hitting 2.84% yield at the end of the day, a watershed mark and the highest yield since October.
Volume was relatively strong, the advance-decline line continued to post a negative number, and the gap between new highs and new lows narrowed to its lowest point since the government shutdown in October, a key number on which to train one's investment eyes.
DOW 15,889.77, -24.85 (-0.16%)
NASDAQ 4,038.00, +0.80 (+0.02%)
S&P 1,792.81, -2.34 (-0.13%)
10-Yr Note 99.18, -0.03 (-0.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.81 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.59 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2236-3418
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 150-111
WTI crude oil: 97.20, +1.16
Gold: 1,247.20, +26.40
Silver: 19.83, +0.765
Corn: 436.50, +5.25
Leading off the hit parade - prior to the open - was ADP's November private payroll number, gushing at a robust 215,000 new jobs created during the month, which turned futures sour and set a negative tone for the session (remember, good news is bad because the Fed would likely diminish the free money carry trade known as QE).
Then came data on the US trade deficit, which narrowed to $40.6 billion, more good news. New home sales surged 25%, though the median price declined slightly, another positive for the economy.
The mood changed with ISM Services data, showing a slowing from 55.4 in October to 53.9 in November. Overall, the mood on Wall Street turned to fear of an improving economy (sad, but true how twisted the logic is), sending stocks to their lows of the session around midday.
With the Dow off 125 points and the other major indices following suit, the Fed's beige book was released at 2:00 pm ET, and, apparently, enough investors and traders found enough evidence to believe that the Fed was nowhere close to tapering their bond purchases, igniting a rally that sent the Dow into positive territory briefly in the final half hour of trading.
While this is a plausible explanation of the day's roller coaster activity, some did not get the memo or read the tea leaves of the Fed clearly enough, as the rally sizzled, then fizzled into the close, leaving the Dow and S&P modestly lower, the NASDAQ up a couple of points.
At the end of the day, it was a big, fat, nothing=burger, though some adroit day-traders certainly cashed in on the movement and momentum.
With the Dow down for the third time in three December days, it marks the first time that's happened to start a month since September, 2011.
The BLS monthly non-farm payroll report will be released Friday morning, leaving Thursday as a kind of limbo trade. Based on the smashing results of the ADP report, expectations are for a boffo government report, producing, alas, another downdraft on stocks. such is the madness that moves markets in the age of QEternity and ZIRP until the end of time.
Thursday, therefore, would be a good day to relax, take some time off and buy some gold or silver, both of which saw heavy buying after weeks and weeks of relentless selling. A bottom may have been put in on the precious metals, or not. In any case, they're very cheap compared to prices over the past three years. Besides, they're shiny and guaranteed not to rust.
Bonds sold off, with the 10-year note hitting 2.84% yield at the end of the day, a watershed mark and the highest yield since October.
Volume was relatively strong, the advance-decline line continued to post a negative number, and the gap between new highs and new lows narrowed to its lowest point since the government shutdown in October, a key number on which to train one's investment eyes.
DOW 15,889.77, -24.85 (-0.16%)
NASDAQ 4,038.00, +0.80 (+0.02%)
S&P 1,792.81, -2.34 (-0.13%)
10-Yr Note 99.18, -0.03 (-0.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.81 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.59 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2236-3418
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 150-111
WTI crude oil: 97.20, +1.16
Gold: 1,247.20, +26.40
Silver: 19.83, +0.765
Corn: 436.50, +5.25
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Desptie Fed PMO of $3.7 Billion, Stocks Swoon
Something is definitely amiss in US equity markets.
While that may be the most understated understatement of the year - or the past five - even an injection of $3.7 billion from the Fed's Permanent Open Market Operations (POMO) couldn't get stocks to attain escape velocity.
And that's the problem. Velocity. There simply isn't any, in the stock markets (for now, though that will likely change) and especially in the outside economy where every extra dollar is being spent consolidating debt, paying down debt or going into a rainy day fund, because people, humans, have this uncanny knack for knowing when trouble is on the horizon.
Call it a Spidey-sense tingling, or intuition, or maybe people can simply see what's going on: politicians lie and don't deliver; economics are skewed toward corporations, not individuals; the government protects banks and ignores the plight of the people; Wall Street continues to enrich itself at the expense of the American people; Obamacare; eroding rights; call it what you will, but it's a fact that more than two thirds of the people in the United States believe the country is going in the wrong direction.
There are less people now who have a positive view of congress than there were supporting the king of England on the advent of the American revolution. People are afraid, so they don't spend, and, since consumer spending is the fuel of the economy, i.e., velocity, the velocity of money has been slowing and is nearing stall speed. The money the Federal Reserve pumps via their POMOs and bond-buying-binge ($85 billion a month) is not going into the general economy. It goes largely into excess reserves which the banks borrow from for speculation, mostly into stocks, but even this is not providing the lift.
The major indices spilled into the red for the second straight day during December. A large part of that spillage may be profit-taking, but there's also a valuation angle that must be addressed. Some stocks are at nosebleed levels. Others are backed by businesses which may or may not be very well-managed. Future-looking analysts paint a rosy picture for 2014, but the reality is that many corporations are seeing margins being squeezed, stock buybacks at all-time highs and labor cutbacks that are straining their collective workforces.
Then, there's Obamacare, which has had the unique ability to cut workers' hours to under 30 per week, limiting productivity and job security, while adding costs - and uncertainty - to the bottom line of many businesses, large and small.
It's a shipwreck, a train wreck, a slow motion un-natural disaster and it's being played out in real time on Wall Street. It's been said here and elsewhere ad nauseum that the greed, lying, cheating and stealing by Wall Street and Washington will eventually have to be paid back in an inglorious reversal of fortune. Could that reversal be taking place, right now?
Maybe, but probably not. These things, like the destruction of the entire economic system of a nation with the reserve currency, take time. It's not going to happen overnight, though the past five years have evidenced dislocations and distoritions to markets and price discovery mechanisms unlike any other time in recorded history.
The abomination has arrived... in 2008. We're only just now beginning to deal with the nasty side-effects of trying to deal with it without causing pain.
Now comes the pain. Detroit is first up for the beatings.
DOW 15,914.62, -94.15 (-0.59%)
NASDAQ 4,037.20, -8.06 (-0.20%)
S&P 1,795.15, -5.75 (-0.32%)
10-Yr Note 99.88, +0.70 (+0.71%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.72 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.36 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2168-3505
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 142-113
WTI crude oil: 96.04, +2.22
Gold: 1,220.80, -1.10
Silver: 19.06, -0.224
Corn: 431.25, +6.75
While that may be the most understated understatement of the year - or the past five - even an injection of $3.7 billion from the Fed's Permanent Open Market Operations (POMO) couldn't get stocks to attain escape velocity.
And that's the problem. Velocity. There simply isn't any, in the stock markets (for now, though that will likely change) and especially in the outside economy where every extra dollar is being spent consolidating debt, paying down debt or going into a rainy day fund, because people, humans, have this uncanny knack for knowing when trouble is on the horizon.
Call it a Spidey-sense tingling, or intuition, or maybe people can simply see what's going on: politicians lie and don't deliver; economics are skewed toward corporations, not individuals; the government protects banks and ignores the plight of the people; Wall Street continues to enrich itself at the expense of the American people; Obamacare; eroding rights; call it what you will, but it's a fact that more than two thirds of the people in the United States believe the country is going in the wrong direction.
There are less people now who have a positive view of congress than there were supporting the king of England on the advent of the American revolution. People are afraid, so they don't spend, and, since consumer spending is the fuel of the economy, i.e., velocity, the velocity of money has been slowing and is nearing stall speed. The money the Federal Reserve pumps via their POMOs and bond-buying-binge ($85 billion a month) is not going into the general economy. It goes largely into excess reserves which the banks borrow from for speculation, mostly into stocks, but even this is not providing the lift.
The major indices spilled into the red for the second straight day during December. A large part of that spillage may be profit-taking, but there's also a valuation angle that must be addressed. Some stocks are at nosebleed levels. Others are backed by businesses which may or may not be very well-managed. Future-looking analysts paint a rosy picture for 2014, but the reality is that many corporations are seeing margins being squeezed, stock buybacks at all-time highs and labor cutbacks that are straining their collective workforces.
Then, there's Obamacare, which has had the unique ability to cut workers' hours to under 30 per week, limiting productivity and job security, while adding costs - and uncertainty - to the bottom line of many businesses, large and small.
It's a shipwreck, a train wreck, a slow motion un-natural disaster and it's being played out in real time on Wall Street. It's been said here and elsewhere ad nauseum that the greed, lying, cheating and stealing by Wall Street and Washington will eventually have to be paid back in an inglorious reversal of fortune. Could that reversal be taking place, right now?
Maybe, but probably not. These things, like the destruction of the entire economic system of a nation with the reserve currency, take time. It's not going to happen overnight, though the past five years have evidenced dislocations and distoritions to markets and price discovery mechanisms unlike any other time in recorded history.
The abomination has arrived... in 2008. We're only just now beginning to deal with the nasty side-effects of trying to deal with it without causing pain.
Now comes the pain. Detroit is first up for the beatings.
DOW 15,914.62, -94.15 (-0.59%)
NASDAQ 4,037.20, -8.06 (-0.20%)
S&P 1,795.15, -5.75 (-0.32%)
10-Yr Note 99.88, +0.70 (+0.71%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.72 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.36 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2168-3505
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 142-113
WTI crude oil: 96.04, +2.22
Gold: 1,220.80, -1.10
Silver: 19.06, -0.224
Corn: 431.25, +6.75
Monday, December 2, 2013
On Cyber Monday, Black Friday Left Wall Street Red-Faced
So, everybody was shopping online today, this being Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day of the year, right?
Well, maybe, but there were a lot of people shopping online last week, instead of fighting the mobs at the malls and big box stores; so many, in fact, that Black Friday didn't really live up to the hype. It was kind of a bust, as the voting, via stock trades on Monday, clearly demonstrated.
Stocks took a nosedive at the end of the day, as they've done the past three sessions, led by the two strongest consumer sectors. Consumer discretionary was the loss leader of the day, with names like Aeropostale (ARO, -5.5%), Urban Outfitters (URBN, -3.5%) and Sears (SHLD, -5.2%) leading the way down.
That's not a good sign for the holiday season, which, according to now-skeptical analysts, expect to be the worst since 2009.
Retailers were not completely to blame for Monday's selloff, which was led by the Dow Industrials. Rather, the selling, which accelerated into the close, as has been the recent motif, was probably tied more to profit-taking. After all, stocks have had a stellar run in 2013, with the Dow up 26%, the NASDAQ ahead by nearly 30% and the S&P sporting a 28% rise on the year.
It's been a grand year to buy and hold stocks; one certainly can't blame anyone for partaking of some fat holiday profits, but the overall trend of trading has been puzzling to the perma-bull crowd, with the current bull market closing in on 57 months.
The trend may remain intact for a while longer, though, because there's nearly zero chance of the Federal Reserve announcing any kind of tapering of their bond purchase program at the December meeting of the FOMC (Dec. 17 & 18), risking market displeasure and a downturn which would cast quite a negative pallor on an otherwise outstanding year for speculators, risk-takers and even cautious investors.
That's why it would be unwise to read too much into one day's trading, or even the recent pattern of late-session selling at this juncture.
The likelihood is that profit-taking will be pushed forward into the first few weeks of December, saving the upside for the wise guys who know, above all, that the Fed isn't going to make any substantive end-of-year changes. If anything, investors should stand pat until the 30th, because the Fed will ensure a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for all.
On the flip side, gold and silver were absolutely smashed lower. Whether the continued selling is part and parcel of the recent distaste for anything not fiat-related or more of an exacerbated "sell the losers" mentality is an open question not soon to be answered.
Dow 16,008.77, -77.64 (-0.48%)
NASDAQ 4,045.26, -14.63 (-0.36%)
S&P 1,800.90, -4.91 (-0.27%)
10-Yr Note 99.58 -0.42 (-0.42%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.61 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.08 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1620-4074
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 316-90
WTI crude oil: 93.82, +1.10
Gold: 1,221.90, -28.50
Silver: 19.29, -0.744
Corn: 424.50, 0.00
Well, maybe, but there were a lot of people shopping online last week, instead of fighting the mobs at the malls and big box stores; so many, in fact, that Black Friday didn't really live up to the hype. It was kind of a bust, as the voting, via stock trades on Monday, clearly demonstrated.
Stocks took a nosedive at the end of the day, as they've done the past three sessions, led by the two strongest consumer sectors. Consumer discretionary was the loss leader of the day, with names like Aeropostale (ARO, -5.5%), Urban Outfitters (URBN, -3.5%) and Sears (SHLD, -5.2%) leading the way down.
That's not a good sign for the holiday season, which, according to now-skeptical analysts, expect to be the worst since 2009.
Retailers were not completely to blame for Monday's selloff, which was led by the Dow Industrials. Rather, the selling, which accelerated into the close, as has been the recent motif, was probably tied more to profit-taking. After all, stocks have had a stellar run in 2013, with the Dow up 26%, the NASDAQ ahead by nearly 30% and the S&P sporting a 28% rise on the year.
It's been a grand year to buy and hold stocks; one certainly can't blame anyone for partaking of some fat holiday profits, but the overall trend of trading has been puzzling to the perma-bull crowd, with the current bull market closing in on 57 months.
The trend may remain intact for a while longer, though, because there's nearly zero chance of the Federal Reserve announcing any kind of tapering of their bond purchase program at the December meeting of the FOMC (Dec. 17 & 18), risking market displeasure and a downturn which would cast quite a negative pallor on an otherwise outstanding year for speculators, risk-takers and even cautious investors.
That's why it would be unwise to read too much into one day's trading, or even the recent pattern of late-session selling at this juncture.
The likelihood is that profit-taking will be pushed forward into the first few weeks of December, saving the upside for the wise guys who know, above all, that the Fed isn't going to make any substantive end-of-year changes. If anything, investors should stand pat until the 30th, because the Fed will ensure a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for all.
On the flip side, gold and silver were absolutely smashed lower. Whether the continued selling is part and parcel of the recent distaste for anything not fiat-related or more of an exacerbated "sell the losers" mentality is an open question not soon to be answered.
Dow 16,008.77, -77.64 (-0.48%)
NASDAQ 4,045.26, -14.63 (-0.36%)
S&P 1,800.90, -4.91 (-0.27%)
10-Yr Note 99.58 -0.42 (-0.42%)
NASDAQ Volume 1.61 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.08 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1620-4074
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 316-90
WTI crude oil: 93.82, +1.10
Gold: 1,221.90, -28.50
Silver: 19.29, -0.744
Corn: 424.50, 0.00
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