The scare for lower growth and increasing unemployment was lessened today after initial jobless claims came in lower-than-expected 233K versus 250K last week. Maybe the employment picture is not so alarming after all.
If bad data is bad for the market, good data has to be good for the market, and that is what we saw in the US stock indices today:
- The S&P index had its best day since November 2022. That comes after having its worst day going back to September 2022 just on Monday
- The NASDAQ index had it's best day since February of this year with a gain of 2.87%, but that comes after falling -3.43% Monday
The final numbers are showing:
- Dow Industrial Average average rose 683.04 points or 1.76% at 39446.50
- S&P index rose 119.79 points or 2.30% at 5319.30.
- NASDAQ index rose 464.22 points or 2.87% at 16660.02
The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 49.31 points or 2.42% at 2084.42.
Although solid gains today, the major indices are still down for the week with one day remaining:
- Dow Industrial Average average, -0.73%..
- S&P index, -0.51%
- NASDAQ index, -0.69%
Both the S&P and NASDAQ are working on their fourth straight week to the downside if they can't make up the shortfall on Friday.
The good news for the S&P from a technical perspective is it is closing above its 100-day MA at 5310.65 (blue line on the chart below). Last Friday, the price tested that moving average but bounced into the close. Getting back above is bullish.
The good new technically for the Nasdaq is it is closing back above a swing area (high at 16538. The price remains below the 100 day MA at 16886.75 though.
I will be a believing in and about four units will
For today though, happy days are here again.
