US stocks rally as investors weigh economic data, Trump policies
Mon March 17, 2025 4:34 PM
All three indexes were more or less chugging along near flat (except Nasdaq in the red) until 1 pm when everything soared for the afternoon, only suddenly declining again in the final 15 minutes but still all closing in the green with the Dow once again into very respectable 3-digit gains. Like Friday, this is once again being attributed to picking up bargains after several weeks of tumble. But Trump’s policies remain a major area of nervousness and uncertainty and consumer sentiment continues to fall substantially.
The good news is that, per today’s expert, “Sentiment is often a horrible predictor of spending,” but then followed by more bad news, “but the good vibes that have propped up spending are now a distant memory.” On Wednesday, the Fed opens its crystal ball again with the added benefit this month of making projections, something that will provide valuable new evidence of what they see as the coming impact of the Trump policies. Today’s rally would suggest they’re expecting a positive report. But the Atlanta Fed today increased its outlook from a 1.6% contraction to 2.1%. Click on the link below to view two very revealing charts showing the sharp drops this year in both consumer sentiment and all three indexes. Volume came in at 13.86 billion, well below the 4-week average of 16.5 billion.
DJ: 41,488.19 +674.62 NAS: 17,754.09
+451.07 S&P: 5,638.94
+117.42 3/14
DJ: 41,841.63 +353.44 NAS: 17,808.66
+54.58 S&P: 5,675.12
+36.18 3/17
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