Almost August

It's the last day of July. Markets dipped slightly, as we wait for the next Fed meeting. Everyone seems to be reading the signs, trying to decide if a rate increase will be announced. The expectation is that this would be the last for a while. More importantly than the increase will be the wording of the press release. Will the Fed signal the end of their activity? If so, the final quarter of the year should give us much-needed relief. If you need relief from the market volatility, consider sticking to dividend paying stocks. Nice, fat dividends help to ease the pain of market fluctuations! Dow -34.02 NASDAQ -2.67 S&P 500 -1.89

Finishing With A Bang!

After yesterday's see-saw act, it seems the "high hopes" from earlier this week prevailed today. A weaker-than-expected GDP Report for the second quarter came out today. Hopes were raised again that this would be a continued reason for the Fed to put a halt on rates increases. This was especially good news to financial stocks like American Express and Citigroup, which were up. I'm glad to end the week on a good note, as it seems this gloomy weather will be much harder to beat! DJIA: +119.27 Nasdaq: +39.67 S&P 500: +15.35

Thursday See-Saw

The market bumped down from an almost-green day today in the final hours of trading - AGAIN. It seems that last hour is a sure-fire downer. The cause of the dip? A balancing act. Investors weighed on one side the hopes of an end to rates increases by the Fed, while fears of an economic slow-down were on the opposite end. The basis of these factors: a June report showing solid demand for durable goods vs. a slowing housing market. Nonetheless, we keep driving around looking at houses for sale in our spare time - my new favorite form of "free" entertainment! DJIA: -2.08 Nasdaq: -15.99 S&P 500: -5.20

Close, But No Cigar

We came so close to having three "green" days in a row. The market was up this afternoon (the Dow was up almost 50 points) until the last couple of hours. Its the transportation stocks that investors are worried about, particularly after today, when both Boeing and GM reported low earnings reports. GM reported a net loss of $3.18 billion (despite a 12% revenue increase) and the market dipped. I've been thinking about personally helping GM buy purchasing a new car, but I've had so much fun shopping, I might never make a decision!

DJIA: -1.20 Nasdaq: -3.44 S&P 500: -0.48

High Hopes

Investors are keeping a close eye on the oil market, and they must have seen something today that they liked. With the high hope that the Middle East crisis won't sread to the oil-rich regions, oil prices dropped and trading shot up in the last hour. Amazon had a so-so day, with their net dropping but still managing to increase revenue. And HP announced they will buy the software company Mercury Interactive. Despite the gloomy rain, its a good day! DJIA: +52.66 Nasdaq: +12.06 S&P 500: +7.97