1) Increase in spending on gasoline and cars is expected to boost retail sales for March above the dismal sales of February. These numbers are being watched closely because there are conflicting statistics in reports that will indicate if there is a down turn of the economy. The retail sales numbers are the last to be coming in.
2) Contributions to restore Notre Dame continue to come in, now totaling almost one billion dollars. Notre Dame didn’t have any insurance, but Lloyds of London estimates that full restoration will require about eight billion dollars. Initial investigation found that the church structure came close to total collapse.
3) Fears of ‘medicare for all’ caused the health care stocks to drop. So far, health insurance and hospital stocks are down about $28 billion dollars, but in general today’s markets closed unchanged.
4) 17 APR 19 Stock market closings:
Dow 26,449.54 down 3.12
Nasdaq 7,996.08 down 4.15
S&P 500 2,900.45 down 6.61
10 Year Yield: unchanged at 2.59%
Oil: down at $63.75