Dow: -47.12…
Nasdaq: -16.22… S&P: -4.90…
The bulls and bears did battle again today. The final standing of the major indices suggests things ended in a draw. There was little change in the major indices, yet that was actually a victory for the bulls.
It was a victory because the market maintained the bulk of yesterday’s gains.
It was a victory because the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 battled back from opening declines of 1.2%, 1.3%, and 1.2%, respectively.
It was a victory because Fed Chair Powell acknowledged in his Semiannual Monetary Policy testimony that it is going to be challenging to achieve a soft landing.
It was a victory because there were clear growth concerns below the index level.
The bottom line is they had a chance to sell yesterday’s rally and they didn’t. Maybe they are waiting for a higher bump to do so.
As a result, the thinking out there is that because stocks have been so hammered, the rebalancing activity at the end of the quarter could lead to a big markup in stocks.
As the conversation moves from inflation to recession, we are seeing commodities take the brunt of the pressure here. Energy was a major drag throughout the day, giving in to global growth concerns that knocked WTI crude oil futures down 3.2% to $106.07/bbl.
Interesting……….
Shortly after API reported a surprisingly large crude inventory build last week (and the first gasoline build in 3 months), The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued a statement late today saying that it won’t publish its closely-watched weekly oil inventory report as planned on June 23 as “a result of systems issues.”
This is a massively important weekly report, which often moves oil prices plus or minus 5% in seconds.
I’ll open that one up for you conspiracy theorists.
I’m getting calls to buy more energy, but I’m waiting and watching XLE here. Headlines are a mile a minute right now.