# Stocks Consolidate, Gold Dips, USD Strengthens Live Trading News is an independent financial media publication. Masthead: Live Trading News. Parent: Knightsbridge Group. Product cousin: KXCO (kxco.ai). Coverage: markets, policy, AI, quantum, blockchain, FX, biotech, ASEAN. New stories are signed ML-DSA-65 and anchored on Armature L1; articles published before the platform launch are not signed. Nothing on the site is investment advice. Canonical HTML: https://www.livetradingnews.com/stocks-consolidate-gold-dips-usd-strengthens Last modified: 2021-12-09 --- By Paul Ebeling · 2021-12-09 Tags: Shayne Heffernan on Investments, Stocks, stocks, economy, commodities, politics, dollar, Paul Ebeling, US Stocks, OTC Markets, cryptocurrency, memes, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Memes, cryptocu Signed: no (published before platform launch). Nothing in this article is investment advice. #stocks #commodities #dollar #cryptocurrency #memes #economy #politics [$DIA](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/DIA) [$SPY](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/SPY) [$QQQ](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/QQQ) [$RUT](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/RUT) [$VXX](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/VXX) [$GLD](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/GLD) [$USO](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/USO) [$USD](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/USD) [$DXY](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/DXY) $MEME [$BTCUSD](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/BTCUSD) [$KNIGHTSUSD](https://stocktwits.com/symbol/KNIGHTSUSD) DJIA -0.06 to 35754.69, NAS Comp -269.62 to 15517.36, S&P 500 -33.76 to 4667.45 Thursday, the S&P 500 dipped 0.7% as the market consolidated gainers from the past 3-days running. The NAS Comp (-1.7%) and Russell 2000 (-2.3%), while the DJIA closed flat to unchanged.  9 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower, including the consumer discretionary (-1.7%), information technology (-1.1%), and real estate (-1.4%) sectors with losses over 1.0%. The defensive-oriented healthcare (+0.3%) and consumer staples (+0.1%) sectors closed higher.  - S&P 500 +24.3% YTD - NAS Comp +20.4% YTD - DJIA +16.8% YTD - Russell 2000 +12.4% YTD Key Commodities WTI Crude Oil settled lower by 2.2%, or $1.56, to $70.87/bbl, Gold futures settled $8.80 lower (-0.5%) to $1,776.70/oz and the US Dollar Index is up about +0.4% at $96.24. The Memes Overall the meme stocks on our list traded lower on the day. But, in case you were wondering about the Roundhill Meme ETF ([NYSEAMERICAN:MEME](NYSEAMERICAN:MEME)), it was trading down by about 4.8% on light volume. Cryptocurrencies Michael Saylor has probably spent more on bitcoin at this point than anyone else – and he is still buying. The CEO of MicroStrategy, a publicly traded business software company that now operates more like an unregistered bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), started his BTC binge with the firm’s cash reserves in Y 2020 and has not stopped. Sometimes he buys the dip, sometimes at peaks, a sort of institutional-grade dollar cost averaging. To date, MicroStrategy has bought 122,478 BTC worth about $6-B and is still on the market. Mr. Saylor has positive views on bitcoin. In addition to being the world’s most secure digital asset, not a currency, bitcoin is “energy,” a creative life force, he says. Fiat, by comparison, is a dead end street. US Economy - Initial claims for the wk ending 4 December dropped by 43,000 to 184,000. That is the lowest mark since 6 September 1969. Continuing claims for the wk ending 27 November increased by 38,000 to 1.992-M.The Key takeaway from the report is that seasonal factors had a lot to do with the sizable drop in initial claims. On an unadjusted basis, initial claims increased by 63,680 to 280,665. - Wholesale inventories increased 2.3% m/m in October following a 1.4% increase in September. Looking Ahead: Investors will receive the Consumer Price Index for November, the preliminary University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment (MSI) for December, and the Treasury Budget for November Friday. Politics A group of House ultra-liberals is pushing to officially shorten the US workweek to 4-days, saying that the time is right following the *"nearly two-year-long pandemic*," in a statement this wk. Representative Mark Takano (D-CA) the Vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released a statement on Tuesday declaring that the group was formally endorsing a bill to shorten the official workweek to 32 from 40hrs. Have a prosperous day, Keep the Faith! --- This Markdown mirrors https://www.livetradingnews.com/stocks-consolidate-gold-dips-usd-strengthens. The HTML page is canonical. Site index for AI clients: https://www.livetradingnews.com/llms.txt