As the world awaits whether or not our clueless cowboy in the White House will pull the trigger and make good his threats against Syria, the stock market loses steam in the light of this uncertainty. Stocks pulled back sharply this week losing about 2%, and for the month they lost over 3%. For the week, the VXO fear index rose over 25% to 17.62 and for the month 38%. Precious metals rose about 11% for the month, but their miners didn’t do much.
Monday, stocks rose 0.3% in Asia, fell slightly in Europe, and fell 0.5% in the U.S. dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average down below the 15,000 level again on very low volume. Bonds reversed course and gained. Tuesday, the downward momentum picked up with Asian stocks falling 0.6% as tensions between Syria and the U.S. rise. Anxiety grew, leading to a 1.7% decline of stocks in Europe and 1.5% in the U.S. on low volume. The VXO shot up 14% to close at 16.35 while the 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield dropped 3% to close at 2.72. Precious metals rose about 1% while their miners plunged about 5%.
Wednesday, the slide hit stocks in Asia which dropped 1.1%. In Europe, stocks dipped 0.3% while in the U.S. stocks gained slightly on low volume. 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield rose over 2% to close at 2.78. Precious metals and their miners declined about 1%. Thursday, stocks closed up in Asia 0.6%, up in Europe 0.7% and up just slightly on very low volume in the U.S. as the markets awaited whether or not the U.S. will follow through with its threats in response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Friday, stocks in Asia followed suit from the previous-day U.S. movement rising slightly. In Europe, stocks fell sharply, closing down 1.2% and in the U.S. they declined 0.6% on low volume.