The Buzz on Business for March 26th 2024

Stocks traded in a narrow range to finish mixed on Monday as volume falls again. Is it that traders are on the sidelines awaiting the PCE data due out on Friday?

Or is everybody buying Bitcoin down on South Beach?

Stock Market Report

In normal times, Monday would have been just a normal down day. But these are not normal times if there even is such a thing. In the shadow of spiking inflation and higher for longer and a rally that was nearly straight up for five months now, every down day feels like it could be the beginning of the next bear market.

• • The Dow Jones Industrials were off four-tenths of 1%, that’s 162 points, and they closed at 39,314.

• • The S&P 500 was down three-tenths, that’s 16 points, and it closed at 5218.

• • The NASDAQ Composite closed at 16,384. That’s off three-tenths of 1%, or 44 points.

• • The small caps bucked the trend. The Russell 2000 was up one-tenth of 1%, that’s two points, and it closed to 2,074.

Bond Market Report

Rates were up across the board on Monday.

• • The yield on the 2-year treasury was up three basis points, and it closed at 4.630%.

• • The 20-year closed at 4.508%. That’s also up three ticks.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• • Oil got back some of its recent losses. It was up $1.12, and a barrel now changes hands at $81.86.

• • Gold was up $12.50 and closed at $2,172.60.

• • And Bitcoin had a great day. It’s back above $70,000. It was up $7086.59 and at 4:00 PM ET Monday afternoon stood at $71,012.52.

The Market is in a News Vacuum

It’s hard to tell if the market drifting lower over the last couple of days is a result of no news to push the rally forward or, the fact that it’s a holiday week and a lot of people are out of town or that the news that is coming could be so consequential.

All we can say for sure is that there was nothing to report on Friday. Yesterday, we got mixed data from the housing market. Later this morning we get durable goods orders. All of it is interesting but unlikely to move the market.

And all of it lies in the shadow of Friday morning when the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, the PCE measure of inflation, is released and released on a day when the markets are closed.

We are genuinely intrigued by the content and the form. What will the PEC report tell us about the battle with inflation? And what are the implications for markets on Thursday and Monday.

We will report all of it as it happens to you here on the Buzz.