Monday, stocks rose slightly in Asia and rose 0.4% in Europe. In the U.S. they moved little on very low volume as Columbus Day dampened trading. Precious metals miners fell 3% and crude oil fell 4% to close at 47.41.
Tuesday, stocks fell 1.1% in Asia and 0.9% in Europe. Then moved little in the U.S. on low volume. The VXO rose 8% to close at 17.49 while the 10-Year U.S Treasury Bond yield fell 2% to end the day at 2.06%. Turkey stock IBM fell just slipped below the 150 mark again.
Wednesday, stocks fell 1.2% in Asia and 0.8% in Europe. In the U.S., they fell 0.3% on moderate volume — dragging the Dow, S&P, and NASDAQ indices below 17,000, 2000, and 4800 respectively again. Despite that, IBM closed at 150.01 as buy-back madness no doubt continues to bleed the life blood from this company. The 10-Year U.S Treasury Bond yield fell 3% to end the day at 2.00%. Precious metals were the stars of the day soaring over 3% with their miners gaining 8%.
Thursday, stocks shot up 2.2% in Asia as the latest Fed whisper news gives the word of no rate hikes this year.
Stocks in Europe and the U.S. followed suit with gains of 1.4% and 0.9% respectively on moderate volume — dragging the Dow, S&P, and NASDAQ indices back above 17,000, 2000, and 4800 respectively again. The VXO fell 11% to close at 16.17 while the 10-Year U.S Treasury Bond yield rose 2% to end the day at 2.02%
Friday was options expiration day. That was enough to give stocks one more boost going into the weekend. Stocks rose 0.4%, 0.7%, and 0.4% in Asia, Europe, and the U.S. respectively on low volume for an options expiration day. The VXO fell another 7% to close the week at 15.08. Crude oil rose 2% and closed at 47.72 while precious metals miners lost 3%.
If last week this run felt like a dead cat bounce, this week it felt like a tired blow-off top.