The S&P 500 had an up week closing at 4,137. The flatness from the previous week continued on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesdays before the bell Consumer Price Index (CPI) number made for a volatile day as March CPI slowed for a ninth consecutive month to 5.0%. This led to the S&P 500 gapping open to the upside to a daily high of 4,134. However, by Wednesdays closing bell the S&P 500 had dropped to 4,092. Before Thursdays opening bell we had our second inflation report with the March Producer Price Index (PPI) falling to 0.5%, its biggest decline since April of 2020. This led to another gap open to the upside but this time the back-to-back reports seemed to ignite the bull as it was up all day with the S&P 500 closing up over 1% and above Wednesdays high. Friday saw more swings as the S&P 500 had a bullish open, moved lower until lunch and then clawed its way back up throughout the afternoon. From a technical perspective it was bullish to see all five days making daily intraday highs above the previous days high. Also bullish was the fact that Thursdays low was above Wednesdays low, and Fridays low above Thursdays low. Let the trend be our friend. This years S&P 500 intraday high was 4,195 on 2 February. Were now less than 2% away from that and a bullish breakout above that level could lead to higher prices as demand increases from Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). Next week starts the bulk of earnings season and then we have the next Fed meeting on 2 and 3 May. For TSP TIPS well let the trend be our friend also and increase our equity allocation as the I and C funds saw their 20 day Moving Averages (MA) cross above their 50 day MAs. Both have now returned to a strong bullish status as their Price is above their 20 MA, which is above their 50 MA, which is above their 200 MA. Lastly, the I fund made new Year To Date (YTD) highs on Wednesday and Thursday. As such, we recommend the following new investment mix.
The S&P 500 had an up week closing at 4,137. The flatness from the previous week continued on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesdays before the bell Consumer Price Index (CPI) number made for a volatile day as March CPI slowed for a ninth consecutive month to 5.0%. This led to the S&P 500 gapping open to the upside to a daily high of 4,134. However, by Wednesdays closing bell the S&P 500 had dropped to 4,092. Before Thursdays opening bell we had our second inflation report with the March Producer Price Index (PPI) falling to 0.5%, its biggest decline since April of 2020. This led to another gap open to the upside but this time the back-to-back reports seemed to ignite the bull as it was up all day with the S&P 500 closing up over 1% and above Wednesdays high. Friday saw more swings as the S&P 500 had a bullish open, moved lower until lunch and then clawed its way back up throughout the afternoon. From a technical perspective it was bullish to see all five days making daily intraday highs above the previous days high. Also bullish was the fact that Thursdays low was above Wednesdays low, and Fridays low above Thursdays low. Let the trend be our friend. This years S&P 500 intraday high was 4,195 on 2 February. Were now less than 2% away from that and a bullish breakout above that level could lead to higher prices as demand increases from Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). Next week starts the bulk of earnings season and then we have the next Fed meeting on 2 and 3 May. For TSP TIPS well let the trend be our friend also and increase our equity allocation as the I and C funds saw their 20 day Moving Averages (MA) cross above their 50 day MAs. Both have now returned to a strong bullish status as their Price is above their 20 MA, which is above their 50 MA, which is above their 200 MA. Lastly, the I fund made new Year To Date (YTD) highs on Wednesday and Thursday. As such, we recommend the following new investment mix.