The market is dealing with several issues today. Initially, it opened lower as key Dow components Cisco and Walmart disappointed with earnings and guidance.  Another source of early pressure was concerns about the status of Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn. The big White House rumor of the day had him leaving his position, but the White House reached out to Reuters to say he was staying, and that helped the market rebound.

There is still scuttlebutt that Cohn is leaving as it appears there is no room for him and Steve Bannon in the administration-many see this as an internal battle between Economic Nationalism versus Globalism.

The Dow was off 134 points to 21,892 when the Cohn news broke. A subsequent bounce was short-lived with breaking news of a potential terror attack in Barcelona.  From a technical point of view, the Dow, which is in a solid three-month uptrend, must hold above 21,844. Meanwhile, the volume will be even more sluggish as a terror hostage situation plays out in Barcelona.

DJIA

There is encouraging economic data out today, but it’s getting lost in all the news and noise out of Washington, D.C. (I’ll go into details on those reports tomorrow morning.)

Definitely want to hold off here. Pray for those hostages in Barcelona, and let‘s see how the market shakes out the rest of the session.