Gold Silver Reports ~ The stock market closed mixed on Monday, a welcome respite from what has been the worst start to a year ever on Wall~Street, though the plunge in oil continued and sent crude rates to levels last seen in 2003. Stocks initially shrugged off more turbulence in the mainland China stock market overnight, where shares plunged 5.3% after last week’s 10% drubbing on growth fears, and jumped at the open only to see the gains evaporate at midday and then recover again late in the session.
~Investors are still hoping the U.S. stock market can eventually stabilize after a horrific start to the year last week, when the Dow tumbled 6.2%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 6% and the broad market, as measured by the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, suffered a paper loss of $1.5 trillion. To my way of thinking, the markets are simply adjusting to life without Fed intervention, which means that for the first time in years risk is being repriced based on underlying fundamentals—the way it should be.
~The energy sector took the hardest hit as oil prices tumbled further and briefly fell below $31/barrel. U.S. crude slid 5.7% to $31.29 a barrel and is at the lowest level since 2003. ~ Neal Bhai Reports
