- S&P 500 closes at a record high above 4,000. This is not a fools day joke!
- Equity markets remain buoyant as Biden boosts all bets.
- April is historically the second-best performing month for the S&P 500.
Well, what feels like a slog for equities results in ever higher prices. Thursday sees the optimism take hold more purposefully with a broader sector rally. Only Healthcare (XLY) and Consumer Staples (XLP) were in the red. The S&P is now 80% higher than its pandemic low just over 1 year ago! A big move in the US 10 year added to the equity optimism with yields slumping to 1.67%.
Fundamentals continue to support equities in the US and Thursday saw further confirmation. Strong PMI data from all major European economies and the US ISM hit 68, higher than the 64 forecast. This data, President Bidens' $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan, and the drop in yields really took any obstacles away from equities and they reacted accordingly. The Nasdaq led the way, recouping some of March's relative underperformance, with a 1.8% gain. The big beasts were led by Amazon +2%, Google and Netflix +3% while Apple lagged home with a +0.7% gain. Tesla once again underperformed actually dropping on the session by -1.1%.
Retail stocks were calm by their standards as most held last weeks gains but failed to push higher. AMC dropped 8% on Friday as the company announced plans for a 500 million share offering. GameStop closed flat on Thursday, not too often you can say that about Gamestop!
Oil took a nice pop from the weakening dollar and OPEC+ cutting production, citing increasing demand! The dollar weakened and headed back toward 1.18 against the Euro, trading at 1.1780 at the US equity close.
S&P 500 SPX Week Ahead
Most European equity markets are closed on Monday for Easter so expect volumes to be light. The US has ISM services data and Factory order due out.
Tuesday sees all markets re open and they will have Good Fridays US jobs report to digest. The market will look for continuing signs of reopening job growth but not too strong to wake the bond yields! The forecast is for 650k jobs added, the prior number was 379k. Something inline or slightly better would be the best case solution.
Wednesday is a quiet one on the data front with MBA mortgage applications the highlight. House price rises have been strong in the last data.
Thursday brings jobless claims with this weeks blip looking to be corrected.
Friday kicks off the inflation data merry go round again with the release of the Producer Price Index. Forecasts are for PPI to come in at +0.5% for March and +2.7% for the year. Core PPI (ex-food and energy, why the focus on this who knows as we all need food and energy!) is forecast at +0.5% month +2.6% yearly. Anything too strong and watch bond yields for directional clues in equities.
Earnings due
A quiet shortened week due to Easter sees few companies report.
Thursday has some action with Pricesmart reporting. EPS is forecast at $1.05. Constellation Brands also hits the tape before the market on Thursday. EPS forecast is $1.52 and revenue of $1.86 billion.
Also on Thursday, we get results from Apogee Enterprises and Conagra Brands.
S&P 500 SPX Technical analysis
Technically we look good for further gains next week with Thursday producing a close on the highs. MACD continues to remain in bullish territory having given us a bullish signal on Friday. The 3974 level took a while to clear and once this holds the bulls are happy. Below that we have support from our old friends the 9 and 21 day moving averages. Otherwise, a classic bullish series of higher lows and highs is in place. What could go wrong!
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