In an Uncertain World S&P 500 Post Record Highs
$DIA, $SPY, $QQQ, $VXX
Friday the S&P 500 Index marked a new record, as investors showed confidence corporate earnings will not derail a rally that finished its 4th week running.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent to 2,175.03 at 4:30p in New York, its 7th all-time high in the last 2 weeks, The benchmark gained 0.6% on the week, the smallest such advance in its 4-week run.
The S&P 500 has marked the longest stretch of weekly gains since March. The benchmark on Wednesday posted its 6th record in 8 sessions, the DJIA rose for 9 straight sessions, its longest rally since Y 2013, before halting the advance Thursday.
Speculation that central banks will act to cushion any fallout from Brexit, and signs of a strengthening US economy have driven stocks higher in recent weeks.
This earnings season has boosted optimism corporate results will support equities near records.
About 25% of S&P 500 firms have released figures so far, of which 82% exceeded profit forecasts and 60% beat sales expectations. The flow is set to accelerate, with more than 180 companies scheduled to report results next week.
Analysts forecast net income among S&P 500 members will slide 4.5% in Q-2, improving from a 5.8% fall predicted a week ago for a 5th straight Quarterly decliner.
While better-than-forecast data has helped push stocks to fresh highs, it has also lifted odds of a US Fed interest-rate increase. Traders are pricing in a 46% chance of higher borrowing costs by December, up from about 21% 2 weeks ago, and a less than 8% probability after the 2-day equity selloff following the Brexit vote.
Friday, the US major stock market indexes finished at: DJIA +53.62 at 18570.85, NAS Comp +26.26 at 5100.16, S&P 500 +9.86 at 2175.03
Volume: Trade was light with about 733-M/shares exchanged on the NYSE
- Russell 2000 +6.8% YTD
- DJIA +6.6% YTD
- S&P 500 +6.4 YTD
- NAS Comp +1.9%
HeffX-LTN Analysis for DIA: | Overall | Short | Intermediate | Long |
Bullish (0.27) | Neutral (0.19) | Bullish (0.38) | Bullish (0.25) |
HeffX-LTN Analysis for SPY: | Overall | Short | Intermediate | Long |
Bullish (0.25) | Bullish (0.25) | Bullish (0.35) | Neutral (0.14) |
HeffX-LTN Analysis for QQQ: | Overall | Short | Intermediate | Long |
Bullish (0.35) | Neutral (0.19) | Very Bullish (0.56) | Bullish (0.31) |
HeffX-LTN Analysis for VXX: | Overall | Short | Intermediate | Long |
Bearish (-0.30) | Bearish (-0.32) | Bearish (-0.33) | Bearish (-0.25) |
Have a terrific weekend.
Paul Ebeling
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