5.23.08

  5.23.08

          Stocks started to the upside Monday but then around mid-afternoon buying dried up and selling took over and by the close of the market all major Indices were lower. On Tuesday the selling continued, mostly due to new high record prices for oil. Then the Producer Price Index (PPI) came in at twice what had been expected and that induced some more bearishness into the market. Wednesday started out as a calm one but again, at two o’clock, they released the minutes of the last FOMC meeting which showed that the Fed is more concerned about inflation than interest rates. Investors didn’t like that and the selling started again. Thursday showed some signs of life and ended to the plus side, but not by much. With a three day week-end coming up, few traders felt comfortable leaving much on the table Friday, so more selling ensued. The volume was very light all week which is a positive.     

           Looking back over the last two weeks, we find that for the most part, what we made two weeks ago was given back this week. We stayed put with 25% in the Dow and 25% in the SP500.

 Enjoy the long week-end.

 Till next time

 The MTA Staff