The stock market was like an amusement park ride last week, down over 1% the first two days, up 0.93% Wednesday, down 0.92% Thursday, and then 1.11% higher on Friday. With all the choppiness over the last week, the major averages showed little change. Rumors about President Biden’s proposed doubling of the marginal rate on capital gains triggered the heavy selling on Thursday.
The S&P 500 gapped a bit higher on Friday, as Thursday’s action was quickly forgotten, and ended the day with a bit of late selling. The S&P 500 still closed the week at 4180.2, well above Monday’s low of 4114.8, but was down 0.1% for the week, just 0.11% below the record close.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average led the markets as it gained 1.4%, significantly better than the 0.5% gain in the iShares Russell 2000. The growth-oriented Nasdaq 100 Index was down 0.7%, a bit weaker than the Dow Jones Utility Average and the Dow Jones Industrials. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) GLD -0.4% was unchanged.
