Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Economic Journal - Tuesday, 12/23/2014



(As of 7:05 am PST)
The Santa Claus rally continues to pick up steam as US stocks opened higher this morning.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average pushed past 18,000 for the first time ever, as investors cheered an upwardly revised Q3 GDP figure amidst other mostly positive data. GDP growth rose to a 5% annual pace in the third quarter blowing past analysts’ expectations. The surprise push was due mostly to a large increase in consumer spending, likely reflecting the positive effects of lower gas prices in the past several months. Other data showed durable goods orders declining last month while a report on consumer spending showed spending rising to the fastest pace in 3 months in November. International markets are mixed with Asian indexes finishing mostly lower, while European stocks inched higher. Gold is lower today while oil is up slightly. Due to low holiday trading volumes expect markets to maintain their current course throughout the remainder of the week.

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