The major indices rallied nicely today. The DOW gained 174 points, the S&P 500 added 17, and the NASDAQ shot up 53. The leaders were AAPL, AMZN, ISRG (at a new high), PCLN and GOOG…while TSLA started higher and ended lower. The industrial and material stocks performed well on distant hopes for the infrastructure spending program finally getting underway. Today, there were excellent gains in CAT, MMM and UTX, X, F and GM.
Economic reports showed that weekly jobless claims rose by 10,000 up to 244,000. The April Philadelphia Fed Business Activity Survey slipped a little and March L.E.I. rose by 0.4%. This is a little above expectations.
Bonds inched up to 2.23% for the 10-year Treasury Note while other outside markets were quiet. Crude oil was actually still a bit lower at $50.50 a barrel…but despite the lower crude price, the energy stocks went higher. This just goes to show that there is never an automatic relationship between the two.
Breadth numbers were strong at better than a 2 to 1 upside ratio. The VIX was back down with a decline of .82 down to 14.11, once again finding resistance around the 16 area for now.
For 2017, earnings projections for the S&P are expected to be up by around 10.5% according to current estimates. For 2018 the number is almost 12%, thereby justifying those profit gains in the markets.
Donald M. Selkin
Don Selkin’s Daily Market Notes have been updated and edited with permission from the author. Don Selkin is the Chief Market Strategist at Newbridge Securities Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC and provides the Fair Value analysis for CNBC each morning. The commentary provided in this Market Letter is intended to provide timely market analysis and should not be considered a research report. This Market Letter may contain, and is limited to: Discussions of broad based indices; Commentaries on economic, political or market conditions; Technical analyses concerning the demand and supply for a sector, index or industry based in trading volume and price; Statistical summaries of multiple companies’ financial data, including listings of current ratings; and, Recommendations regarding increasing or decreasing holdings in particular industries or securities. This Market Letter does not make a financial or investment recommendation or otherwise promotes a product or service of the firm. This Market Letter contains only news, facts, and commentary on information previously reported from a news source believed to be accurate and reliable by the author. These news sources include the following: Bloomberg Financial, Reuters, and the Associated Press.