Nothing Revelatory As We Head Into Christmas

It’s no surprise that on this half day of trading before Christmas, U.S. equities barely moved. The biggest change was in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was down a bit more than 0.25%. About the only market trading higher on the day was gold.

The German DAX was the only major western index to close solidly up. It gained 2.25%. The FTSE was up slightly while the French CAX was minutely down.

With only a little fan-fare, crude oil was up 9.00% on the week. That should be a good tailwind for stocks as we begin the last week of the year on Monday.

Oil was helped by a weaker U.S. dollar, as was gold, which took a 0.70% gain into the long weekend.

The dollar was down 0.50% on the day.

Volumes were thin across all markets. That will continue next week during round two of the winter holidays.

Wishing you a merry Christmas, peace on earth, good will towards your fellow man, and of course, good trading,