Stocks and ETFs Struggle But Rally Into The Close

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Major US stock indexes and ETFs opened strong but then struggled after Fed Chairman Dr. Ben Bernanke’s remarks cooled the animal spirits.

The bright note of the day was the September ISM report climbing to 51.5, up from 49.6, beating expectations and returning to expansionary territory.  However, that was offset by a decline in construction spending for August that widely missed expectations and was down from the previous month’s reading.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) gained 0.58%, the Nasdaq 100 (NYSEARCA:QQQ) declined -0.09%, the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) added 0.27% and the Russell 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM) gained 0.34%.

Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) advanced $2.30 to $1776.80.

But the big news maker, as always, was Dr. Bernanke who spoke in Indiana regarding his strategy for QE3 and his goal of bringing down long term interest rates even farther than they’ve already fallen.  He reiterated his goals of fostering a meaningful recovery and adding confidence to business and financial markets and said that he doesn’t expect another recession and that he wants to stimulate employment at a faster pace since employment growth isn’t fast enough to lower overall unemployment as new workers come into the workforce.

Overall, it was a downbeat assessment of the economy as he again said that Congress holds the keys to real and sustainable economic growth.

Bottom line:  Stocks and ETFs struggled but closed higher as Dr. Bernanke defended QE3 but failed to offer any new magic bullets.

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