The occupation of Wall Street continues, this rag tag movement has grown to include other cities and has now spread itself around the world. However, this unforeseen danger was not enough to dampen the spirits of Wall Street, as the equity markets put in one of their best weekly performances for the year.
So how can we best characterized last week’s trading. What stands out in my mind, it was one of the lowest volume weeks in the equity markets for the year. Having said that we saw the DOW move up 4.87%, the NASDAQ jump 7.58% and finally the S&P 500 gained 5.98%.
The clear leader was the NASDAQ which was led by big gains in the stock of Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG).
The metal markets also moved higher with gold up a positive 2.61%, and silver scratching out a modest gain of 1.03% for the week.
Last week the dollar took it on the chin, dropping 2.72%. The move reflected thoughts that Europe was finally getting its act together. Europe continues to be a big question mark in my mind. It remains to be seen, if this is just the opening act, or the final act.
Crude oil prices jumped 4.85%, which in turn pulled the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Commodity Index into positive territory with an impressive gain of 4.41% for the week.
The big news for this week at least on Monday, will be the earnings announcement from Citi (C)and Wells Fargo & Co (WFC). This could really set the trend for the financial markets for the rest of the week. Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) report on Tuesday and Morgan Stanley (MS) is expected to give its quarterly report on Wednesday.
It’s going to be an interesting week. Oh, and let’s not forget that Apple (AAPL) reports quarterly earnings after the close on Tuesday.
Be the first to comment