Several buttons were pushed, and dials were turned today as (U.S. Fed Chairman) China's President Hu Jintao met with President Bush today in Washington. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall during the closed door meeting?
Sorry about the Fed Chairman snipe, but I can't help myself when I know a country like China holds are huge amount of our long term debt, and could sell that debt at any time and send our economy into a tailspin.
In any event, stocks put on an impressive performance early, which was eventually met by profit taking, and sideways trading the rest of the day. The market seems focused on the eventuality of the feds final tightening. Once this is done, we will see the final rally in this cyclical bull rally.
Like I have said many times, our price targets remain 1350-1400 on the S&P, 11,700 for the Dow, and 2400-2500 on the NASDAQ.
General Motors gained 2 points after its CEO appeared on CNBC this morning saying that its big gas guzzler SUV's were selling well. At the current level of fuel, it costs consumers about $60 to fill up a big SUV. If prices remain high, the newness of those vehicles will wear off pretty quickly.
A small decline in the price of oil and a big sell-off in gold prices helped the mood of traders, and also helped ease inflation concerns. Of course, this is subject to change.
For now, I think it best to sit back and watch the remainder of the circus act. I am pleased with our gains in the IA portfolios energy positions, and I like the overall mix of stocks, cash, and market hedges.
For today,
DJIA: 11342.89, up 64.12
S&P 500: 1311.45, up 1.52
NASDAQ Composite: 2362.60, down 8.30
On Friday, I will be in Charlotte NC.
Comments (1)
I have noticed some pretty big discounts on new and used SUVs. $3000 off the price will buy gas for roughly three years at ~15,000 miles per year and ~$3 per gallon.
In 2003 I bought a generic energy mutual fund as a way to hedge my gas costs. So far that has worked out well.
Ain't economic incentives grand?
Posted by Fred | April 21, 2006 4:05 AM
Posted on April 21, 2006 04:05