Making it four straight up weeks, the S&P 500 closed Friday at a new record high of 4958. After a slow start to the week, the markets came alive on Wednesday after the Fed meeting. Fed chair Powell put a dampen on the markets when he announced that hopes of a rate decrease were dim. Over the next two hours, the S&P 500 had its first daily loss of greater than 1% in 2024. However, on Thursday the markets shrugged off that news and closed above the 4,900 level once again. What happened after Thursdays close was truly outstanding as Meta had a fantastic earnings report and stated that it would start making dividend payments, a first for one of those mega tech companies. To put this in perspective, Mark Zuckerberg, Metas CEO, is expected to pocket $700 million a year in just dividends. And then before Fridays open, the employment came in with another outstanding number as the economy added 353,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%. When the markets opened on Friday, Metas stock was up 20% and the S&P 500 marched upward to that new record closing high of 4958, up in 13 of the last 14 weeks. That said, were now less than one percent away from that S&P 500 5,000 level, earning reports continue next week, and were light on economic news until we get inflation numbers on Tuesday, 13 February. For TSP TIPS the C fund remains at the top of the Performance Ranking leaderboard and made a new record high on Friday. On Thursday the I fund also made a new record high and as such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mix.
Making it four straight up weeks, the S&P 500 closed Friday at a new record high of 4958. After a slow start to the week, the markets came alive on Wednesday after the Fed meeting. Fed chair Powell put a dampen on the markets when he announced that hopes of a rate decrease were dim. Over the next two hours, the S&P 500 had its first daily loss of greater than 1% in 2024. However, on Thursday the markets shrugged off that news and closed above the 4,900 level once again. What happened after Thursdays close was truly outstanding as Meta had a fantastic earnings report and stated that it would start making dividend payments, a first for one of those mega tech companies. To put this in perspective, Mark Zuckerberg, Metas CEO, is expected to pocket $700 million a year in just dividends. And then before Fridays open, the employment came in with another outstanding number as the economy added 353,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%. When the markets opened on Friday, Metas stock was up 20% and the S&P 500 marched upward to that new record closing high of 4958, up in 13 of the last 14 weeks. That said, were now less than one percent away from that S&P 500 5,000 level, earning reports continue next week, and were light on economic news until we get inflation numbers on Tuesday, 13 February. For TSP TIPS the C fund remains at the top of the Performance Ranking leaderboard and made a new record high on Friday. On Thursday the I fund also made a new record high and as such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mix.