It was another bullish week for the S&P 500 as it closed Friday at 5,738. Extending the gains from last weeks rate decision, the bull took center stage with the S&P 500 making a new all-time closing high on Monday. On Tuesday Chinas central bank announced a stimulus package plan to improve its flagging economy, which bled over to our markets with the S&P 500 scoring a second day of all-time highs. On Wednesday the markets took a breather, but the S&P 500 was able to maintain its position above the 5,700 level. Before Thursdays open, GDP came in at 3.0%, adding credence that our economy is in a non-recessionary period. As such, the S&P 500 gapped up at the open and closed with its third record all-time high for the week. On Friday August core PCE price index rose by 0.1%, below market expectations of 0.2% and slowing from the 0.2% increase in July. Again, the S&P 500 gapped up at the open, but closed just shy of a new record. Still, three new records this week is outstanding. From a technical perspective, last week we mentioned that in the six months following the first Fed Rate reduction, the S&P 500 averaged a 14% gain when the Fed cut in a non-recessionary period. So, with this Thursdays GDP data, that would put the S&P 500 at 6,455 on 18 March 2025. For next week we wrap up September and the third quarter on Monday, and hopefully this bullish monthly streak will continue into October. And then, on next Friday, we get the payrolls and unemployment reports. For TSP TIPS all three equity funds had positive weeks with both the C and I funds making new all-time highs. As such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mix. We also made our first MFW TIPS recommendation this week as we issued a buy signal on the ProFunds Ultra NASDAQ 100 (UOPIX) fund. If you do want to subscribe but were unable to enter the trade due to the TSP twice a month exchange restriction, you should move money into the MFW on Tuesday and then place the UOPIX buy on Wednesday.
It was another bullish week for the S&P 500 as it closed Friday at 5,738. Extending the gains from last weeks rate decision, the bull took center stage with the S&P 500 making a new all-time closing high on Monday. On Tuesday Chinas central bank announced a stimulus package plan to improve its flagging economy, which bled over to our markets with the S&P 500 scoring a second day of all-time highs. On Wednesday the markets took a breather, but the S&P 500 was able to maintain its position above the 5,700 level. Before Thursdays open, GDP came in at 3.0%, adding credence that our economy is in a non-recessionary period. As such, the S&P 500 gapped up at the open and closed with its third record all-time high for the week. On Friday August core PCE price index rose by 0.1%, below market expectations of 0.2% and slowing from the 0.2% increase in July. Again, the S&P 500 gapped up at the open, but closed just shy of a new record. Still, three new records this week is outstanding. From a technical perspective, last week we mentioned that in the six months following the first Fed Rate reduction, the S&P 500 averaged a 14% gain when the Fed cut in a non-recessionary period. So, with this Thursdays GDP data, that would put the S&P 500 at 6,455 on 18 March 2025. For next week we wrap up September and the third quarter on Monday, and hopefully this bullish monthly streak will continue into October. And then, on next Friday, we get the payrolls and unemployment reports. For TSP TIPS all three equity funds had positive weeks with both the C and I funds making new all-time highs. As such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mix. We also made our first MFW TIPS recommendation this week as we issued a buy signal on the ProFunds Ultra NASDAQ 100 (UOPIX) fund. If you do want to subscribe but were unable to enter the trade due to the TSP twice a month exchange restriction, you should move money into the MFW on Tuesday and then place the UOPIX buy on Wednesday.