If Wall Street still had the iconic scene of traders in a crowded room yelling “buy” and “sell”, then today that room would have been filled with an awkward silence as investors stood by cautiously not knowing what to do.
So far in 2014 the stock market has been on a noticeable decline, coming off of a record breaking 2013. Just as January finished with significant losses and all hope seemed to be lost, last week the market showed some life as it ended with a considerable rally.
Now, after a sobering weekend, investors are muted by a lack of market changing news. Last week gave investors a glimmer of hope that 2014 wasn’t doomed, but without any good reason to march forward, investors are left playing with their thumbs. As a result, all three major market indices stayed relatively flat.
The Dow Jones finished at 15,801.79 (+0.05%)
The S&P 500 finished at 1,799.84 (+0.16%)
The Nasdaq finished at 4,148.17 (0.54%)
Around the financial media you can find an assortment of expert personalities, each putting in their two cents on what’s in store for 2014. Unfortunately no one has yet to prove their crystal ball works, so we can only expect more uncertainty going forward. We can, however, try to anticipate some upcoming news that will likely make an impact on the market. At the forefront of investor’s focus is what the Federal Reserve will announce after their next meeting this month. Many are expecting the Federal Reserve will announce more stimulus spending for the market. It is believed that the hope for more stimulus spending is one of the leading reasons for last week’s market rally, which came at an odd time considering the jobs report showed a weakening economy.
