Friends
Hopes that a budget deal will get done sooner than later and bullish comments over the past few days from hedge fund behemoths helped stocks move higher today. Earnings releases from Target and TJX on the surface looked challenged but shares of both retailers moved higher anyway, as did shares of yesterday’s problem child Home Depot. Tomorrow, we get a look at Walmart’s numbers.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 408 points to finish the day at 33,420. The S&P 500 was up 48 points to close at 4,158. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 157 points to close at 12,500. Gold was down $6 to trade at $1,986 per ounce, while oil was up $1.89 to trade at $72.75 per barrel WTI.
The bears continue to point out that the move higher in stocks has been very narrow lately and that is true. The equal weighted S&P 500 index is basically flat for the year while the S&P 500 index itself is up more than 8%. The heavy weighting of Apple and Microsoft and a handful of others does skew the performance numbers, but the bulls will say just look at the scoreboard. Anyway, we’ll see how the rest of the week plays out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
