Succinct Summations of Weeks Events for 5.5.17

The usual Sunday night succinct weekly summary is supplied below.  One thing that has transpired since this was published Friday was the overwhelming election victory in France of centrist leader Emmanuel Macron who soundly trounced opponent Le Pen by a 2 to 1 margin, much to the relief of the EU and markets around the world.  This Sunday I'm including the narrative weekly summation from Heritage Capital Research as I think it does a particularly good job of explaining last week's events.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Stay warm, it's going to freeze again tonight.

Stock returns annualized average of 11.8%

Now that we finally have some decent weather, I'm going light on the weekend reading but I thought the chart below was rather interesting.  I always like the way Barry Ritholtz always cuts right to the heart of the matter.  Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.

S&P 500 hits record on rebound in U.S. job growth, energy shares

Despite diving nearly 50 points early in the session, the Dow recovered all throughout the day and even closed a respectable 55 points up.  What moved the dial today?  It was the same thing that moved it yesterday, just in the opposite direction.  Yesterday the index dove because OPEC said there would be no further curtailment of output.  Today the index rose because OPEC said they would be continuing to cut crude supplies after all.  Additionally, the jobs report was stellar, 2-1/2 times the gains from March and, of course, energy stocks got a big bounce.  The consensus:  “perhaps the economy is OK. “  Volume was little below average at 6.5 billion.

Wall Street ends flat as health bill passes; energy slammed

Except for an almost 100 point drop that happened about mid-morning and lasted about an hour bouncing right back, it was a pretty smooth day without much movement and the Dow settling down just 6 points.  The House repeal of the ACA and the continued success of Q1 did not move the needle at all.  What did move it was OPEC declining to take further steps to reduce the global oil glut which has plagued the markets for some time.  But that impact lasted only a short while.  Q1 seems already priced in and the S&P earnings projections have been hiked once again today, this time to 14.8 percent.  Yesterday it was 14.2, 13.9 Tuesday, 13.6 Monday.  Volume was way above average at 7.8 billion.

Wall Street slips as Fed holds on rates; financials rise

Everthing that was expected for today happened so there was little change in the closing numbers despite the fact that the Dow swung back and forth in a hundred point range all day.  But the Fed held rates unchanged and Q1 continues gangbusters so, today anyway, no grounds for complaint.  It seems each day that the Q1 forecast gets brighter.  Today it was elevated again to 14.2%, up from 13.9 yesterday, up from 13.6 the day before that.  Volume continues inching higher each day above average, today at 7.3 billion.

Wall Street edges up on heavy earnings day; Fed on tap

A second consecutive day of not much movement as the Dow gained a modest 36 points as investors struggle with competing interests between continuing good Q1 reporting and difficulty making sense of Trump’s proposals, which appear good on the surface but present more questions than answers and raise disconcerting concerns about whether they can get through the Congress.  Q1 is going so well that estimates have been jacked again, this time to 13.9%, up from 13.6 just yesterday.  Volume was a little above average at 7 billion. 

Apple, tech lift Wall Street as Nasdaq sets record

A relatively uneventful day as the Nasdaq is boosted to another record high by gains in the big tech stocks while the rest of market sits on the fence awaiting more Q1.  There will be heavy reporting again this week and it is expected that they will continue to exceed expectations.  The VIX is at its lowest level in ten years and this is impressive considering the recent spate of tepid economic reports which have muted recent stock gains.  Friday’s jobs report is hoping to calm this.  The 6 billion share volume was below average.