The Dow took a beating in the final two days of trading this week—and went down almost 1%. For the year 2015, the Dow stands at a tiny 0.18% gain!
Monday was the first day of June, and Wall Street looked to break a May losing streak. Technically, they were successful, but it was a quiet trading day all in all. Light volume stemmed from uncertainty and investors looking forward to the jobs report due at the end of the week. The Dow went up 29 points.
Tuesday was a one-day snapshot of the story of Wall Street so far in 2015—lots of intra-day movement, with little to show for it at the end. The market was down 100 points early off fears from Greece and the Euro Zone, then reversed to show gains by early afternoon. When all was said and done, however, the Dow went down 28 points—effectively cancelling Monday’s small gain.
Wednesday markets reacted positively to European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s declaration than quantitative easing-type programs would continue in the Euro zone. The private payrolls report—often viewed as a preview of the jobs report—met expectations as well. For the day, the Dow went up 64 points.
Thursday an ongoing rise in bond yields finally took its toll on the market. Yields on the 10-year Treasury reached 2.4% in European trading, the highest point thus far in 2015. A continued lack of a resolution to the debt crisis in Greece didn’t help matters either, as the Dow was clobbered and fell 170 points.
Friday started with a better-than-expected jobs report… so of course, in the confusing world of Wall Street, this meant the markets went down! The rationale was that the strong report would confirm a September interest rate hike. For the day, the Dow was down 56 points.
