Monday, stocks fell in Asia 0.8%, in Europe 0.4%, and in the U.S. 0.5% on low volume. Tuesday, stocks rose 0.7% in Europe. fell in Asia 0.6% and in the U.S. stocks fell 0.4% on low moderate volume. Perhaps volume was propped up a bit by end-of-the-quarter transactions.
Wednesday, stocks fell slightly in Asia, 0.9% in Europe, and 1.2% on low moderate volume in the U.S. The VXO shot up 8.6% to close at 16.04. Needless to say, the Dow Jones Industrial Average blew well below the 17,000 mark that it had been skating above recently. The word fear emerged in financial headlines. Flight to “quality” sent the 10-Year U.S Treasury Bond yield down over 4% to close at 2.40. Thursday, stocks fell 1% in Asia, 2.4% in Europe, and slightly in the U.S. on low volume as Draghi disappointed.
Friday, stocks rose 0.3% in Asian, 0.9% in Europe, and 0.8% in the U.S. on low volume. The VXO fell 12% to close at 13.59. Precious metals were hammered again dropping about 2% and their miners tumbled about twice that amount as gold fell below the $1200/oz mark again and silver declined below th $17/oz level. The news of the day was the U.S. employment report which was reported as rosy. Good news oddly sparked buying despite the likelihood of sooner Fed interest rate hikes as a result. Despite the big gain Friday, stocks still declined for the week, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average did manage to close above the 17,000 mark again.