Monday, stocks fell worldwide — 0.8% in Asia, 0.6% in Europe, and 0.4% in the U.S. on light volume. This was enough to knock the Dow Jones Industrial Average below the 18,000 benchmark again. Tuesday, in Asia stocks moved little. In Europe, they rose slightly. In the U.S., stocks gained 0.5% on light volume, but strangely the VXO shot up 8% to close at 14.83. Precious metals miners gained 3% while the 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield rose 2% to close at 1.93.
Wednesday, stocks fell in Asia 1.1%, rose in Europe 0.3%, and rose 0.5% in the U.S. on moderate volume despite bad news from AAPL. The VXO fell 7% to close at 13.79 and the 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield fell 4% to close at 1.86 as a result from more dove-oriented policy inaction from the FOMC.
Thursday, stocks fell in Asia 0.5%. rose slightly in Europe, and closed virtually unchanged in the U.S. on moderate volume. Despite that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and IBM dropped over 1% dragging each down below their latest round-number benchmark. The VXO rose 12% to close at 15.39. Precious metals gained 1% and their miners shot up 4% in response to good earnings reports. Friday, stocks closed nearly unchanged in Asia, off 2.2% in Europe, and down 0.4% in the U.S. on strong volume in the U.S.
You may have noticed that the vast majority of links used here come from Zero Hedge. The reason I rely on Zero Hedge is because it’s news is very up-to-date, it is relevant, and it contains real hard news without the liberal, politically correct filter. I overlook the profanity that often pops up in the text and comments. The other nice thing about the links is that they are preserved which prevents my website from experiencing link rot common with many if not most Internet news sites that for whatever reason do not bother to preserve their links more that about three months. Zero Hedge seems a bit mysterious as its authors are anonymous. For those interested, here’s a link to give you a peek inside.