The S&P 500 made it a six pack, up for six straight weeks and closing Friday at 4604, a new Year To Date (YTD) and 52 week closing highs. As expected, the first three days of this week saw the S&P 500 have small incremental losses totaling about 1%. 30 year mortgage rates continued to fall towards 7%, but what caught my eye was the fact that total money market fund assets grew to $5.84 trillion as of 29 November, marking a record high and up from $4.49 trillion in October 2022 for a 27% increase (more to follow). On Thursday we saw a rebound as the S&P 500 gapped up at the open and continued its march up in anticipation of Fridays Unemployment/Jobs report. Before Fridays open, that report showed an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate to 3.7%, down from Octobers 3.9%. Additionally, the economy added 199,000 jobs, well ahead of the 150,000 jobs added in October. And to top that off, the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey had the one-year outlook for the inflation rate sliding to 3.1%, down sharply from 4.5% in November and the lowest since March 2021. The consumer sentiment index also rose more than 8 points to 69.4, tied for its best level since July. All told, the S&P 500 continued that march up and 20 minutes before Fridays close set a new intraday YTD high of 4609 before closing at 4604. From a technical perspective, this march up to new highs has been steady with the last S&P 500 daily move of 1% or greater being 14 November. Backing this up is the Bollinger Band Index, which measures volatility, dropping to a low of 45 and a level not seen since 20 October when the S&P 500 was at 4224, about 10% below current levels. So, with the afore mentioned $5.84 trillion money market fund assets, the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), and money managers wanting to polish their portfolios before year end, the potential exists for Letting the trend be our friend and more bullishness. Next week will mark the end of major economic news for the year as mid-week we have the inflation numbers and the final Fed decision on interest rates. For TSP TIPS the C fund made a new 52 week high on Friday while the S fund sits at the top of the Performance Ranking leaderboard. As such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mix.
The S&P 500 made it a six pack, up for six straight weeks and closing Friday at 4604, a new Year To Date (YTD) and 52 week closing highs. As expected, the first three days of this week saw the S&P 500 have small incremental losses totaling about 1%. 30 year mortgage rates continued to fall towards 7%, but what caught my eye was the fact that total money market fund assets grew to $5.84 trillion as of 29 November, marking a record high and up from $4.49 trillion in October 2022 for a 27% increase (more to follow). On Thursday we saw a rebound as the S&P 500 gapped up at the open and continued its march up in anticipation of Fridays Unemployment/Jobs report. Before Fridays open, that report showed an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate to 3.7%, down from Octobers 3.9%. Additionally, the economy added 199,000 jobs, well ahead of the 150,000 jobs added in October. And to top that off, the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey had the one-year outlook for the inflation rate sliding to 3.1%, down sharply from 4.5% in November and the lowest since March 2021. The consumer sentiment index also rose more than 8 points to 69.4, tied for its best level since July. All told, the S&P 500 continued that march up and 20 minutes before Fridays close set a new intraday YTD high of 4609 before closing at 4604. From a technical perspective, this march up to new highs has been steady with the last S&P 500 daily move of 1% or greater being 14 November. Backing this up is the Bollinger Band Index, which measures volatility, dropping to a low of 45 and a level not seen since 20 October when the S&P 500 was at 4224, about 10% below current levels. So, with the afore mentioned $5.84 trillion money market fund assets, the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), and money managers wanting to polish their portfolios before year end, the potential exists for Letting the trend be our friend and more bullishness. Next week will mark the end of major economic news for the year as mid-week we have the inflation numbers and the final Fed decision on interest rates. For TSP TIPS the C fund made a new 52 week high on Friday while the S fund sits at the top of the Performance Ranking leaderboard. As such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mix.