(As of 7:10 am PST)
It’s a quiet start for US
stocks this morning, as investors caught their breath after two straight
sessions of extraordinary gains. Yesterday’s rally, which saw the Dow up over
400 points, came after Wednesday’s reassurance from the Federal Reserve that
rate increases would be slow and steady into 2015. A turn around in oil prices
yesterday also helped to rally stocks.
It appears Friday’s session will be a quiet one. An empty economic
calendar and a day known as quadruple-witching day (when various options
contracts expire simultaneously) should keep gains to a minimum today. In
overseas action, markets were mixed. Asian indexes finished the day higher on
the heels of Wall Street’s explosive gains yesterday. European stocks are yet
to follow suit with most indexes down for the day and poised to finish the week
modestly lower. Two Fed officials are set to speak later in the day,
with expectations that they will reiterate Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s remarks on monetary policy
earlier in the week. Commodity prices are higher with oil climbing 3% today
despite a very volatile week. Interest rates are lower while the US dollar is
flat. With many traders leaving on Christmas break, expect market action to be
quiet in the next few sessions.
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