US stocks take a turn. Big late purchases save the day

It was once again today about the actions of the regional banks. They spiked in the pre-market, but the market open turned out to be a high. Selling was moderate at first, but picked up in the US afternoon to the point where several of the target names were in negative territory and the index barely positive.

The CPI report was largely in line, but the market breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t as hot as the Fed To go hiking.

The Russian-American drone incident was credited for selling stocks, but that’s a bit of a stretch to me. Either way, the bleeding in the banks spread across the broader market and briefly pushed the DJIA into negative territory. However, some big buys in the last 20 minutes of trading led to big gains overall.

Closing changes:

• S&P 500 +1.6% (+60 points to 3916)
• Nasdaq +2.1%
• Russell 2000 +2.3%
• DJIA +1.1%
• TSX Toronto compensation +0.5%