The market got over the 30th anniversary of October crash yesterday by turning a large loss at the opening bell into a small closing gain. Today, the bullish crowd kept pouring it on as the major indices recorded their sixth straight weekly gains with new all-time highs in the Dow, S&P and NASDAQ. The Russell 2000 Index of small stocks knocked on the door but fell just 5 points shy of its peak of 1514.
The DOW finished with a gain of 165 points, the S&P 500 added 13 to 2575, and the NASDAQ climbed 24 points to close at 6629.
The upside motivation apparently came from the passage of a Senate budget blueprint for next year on strictly partisan lines. This could make an overhaul of the tax code possible either late this year or early next year.
In addition to the budget issue, most of the corporate earnings reports supported the upside moves today except for PG and GE. General Electric was at a multi-year low before bargain hunters came in to push it back to a 1% gain. The main drivers to the positive side today were the financials…probably on hopes for a tax cut. BA grabbed another record high to 264 ahead of its earnings report next week.
Donald M. Selkin
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. These are excerpts from Don Selkin’s Daily Market Notes, abbreviated and updated with permission from the author.