Stocks turned in one of their worst weekly performances in a year, I wonder why? It’s easy to point the finger at Washington and indeed they played their part in this week’s sell-off, however, the economy is certainly showing signs of contraction as well. The G.D.P. report which came out today and is the barometer of our country’s economic health, only rose at an annual rate of 1.3%, far less than what the pundits were expecting and to add insult to injury, the Q1 report was revised sharply lower. Bottom line, the economy has not really been growing and seems to have stalled.

This week, the Dow (chart) lost 537.90 points or 4.2%, the Nasdaq (chart) -102.45 or 3.6%, the S&P 500 (chart) -52.74 or 3.9% and the Russell 2000 (chart) -44.79 or 5.3%. It is important to note that all of these key indexes managed to hold support and stay above their 200-day moving averages. Right now the markets are fearful and are looking for some type of certainty out of Washington. Let’s hope the folks on the hill can come to an agreement as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend 🙂

~George