It was a nice week for the S&P 500 as it gained about 100 points, closing at 6,930. On Monday the markets were boosted by a 1.5% jump in chipmaking giant Nvidia, and Materials was the top performing S&P sector with Newmont and Freeport-McMoRan jumping 3% as gold and silver futures hit records. Before Tuesdays open, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy/GDP expanded at 4.3% annual pace in the third quarter, much better than the 3.2% estimate. As such the S&P 500 gapped up at the open and then set a record closing high, the first since 11 December. Wednesdays shortened trading session was led by tech names including Google parent Alphabet, Nvidia, Broadcom and Amazon, and the S&P 500 made it back-to-back record highs. We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas, but on Friday the markets were a little exhausted after five consecutive positive days, and the S&P 500 was down 2 points. From a technical perspective, the S&P 500 has some nice bullish indicators. This week it gained 1.4%, making that 4 up weeks in the last 5. It should be noted that the 1.4% gain was the result of a steady climb, with little volatility, i.e. no daily moves of over 1%. Also, this weeks high and low were higher than the previous week, a positive trend. And for those of you keeping the Santa Claus Rally (SCR) score, the S&P 500 opened at 6,865 on Wednesday, and ends at 5 Januarys close. And heres an interesting fact. On this Friday, the first day after Christmas, the S&P 500 had a daily loss of -0.03%, while on 26 December 2024, the S&P 500 had a daily loss of -0.04%. So history does repeat itself, at least sometimes. For TSP TIPS it was also a pretty strong week as the I fund made new record highs on all four days, while the C fund made new record highs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Like the S&P 500, the C fund is also up in 4 of the last 5 weeks, while the I fund is up in 5 of 5 weeks. As such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mixes. Lastly, we would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!
It was a nice week for the S&P 500 as it gained about 100 points, closing at 6,930. On Monday the markets were boosted by a 1.5% jump in chipmaking giant Nvidia, and Materials was the top performing S&P sector with Newmont and Freeport-McMoRan jumping 3% as gold and silver futures hit records. Before Tuesdays open, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy/GDP expanded at 4.3% annual pace in the third quarter, much better than the 3.2% estimate. As such the S&P 500 gapped up at the open and then set a record closing high, the first since 11 December. Wednesdays shortened trading session was led by tech names including Google parent Alphabet, Nvidia, Broadcom and Amazon, and the S&P 500 made it back-to-back record highs. We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas, but on Friday the markets were a little exhausted after five consecutive positive days, and the S&P 500 was down 2 points. From a technical perspective, the S&P 500 has some nice bullish indicators. This week it gained 1.4%, making that 4 up weeks in the last 5. It should be noted that the 1.4% gain was the result of a steady climb, with little volatility, i.e. no daily moves of over 1%. Also, this weeks high and low were higher than the previous week, a positive trend. And for those of you keeping the Santa Claus Rally (SCR) score, the S&P 500 opened at 6,865 on Wednesday, and ends at 5 Januarys close. And heres an interesting fact. On this Friday, the first day after Christmas, the S&P 500 had a daily loss of -0.03%, while on 26 December 2024, the S&P 500 had a daily loss of -0.04%. So history does repeat itself, at least sometimes. For TSP TIPS it was also a pretty strong week as the I fund made new record highs on all four days, while the C fund made new record highs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Like the S&P 500, the C fund is also up in 4 of the last 5 weeks, while the I fund is up in 5 of 5 weeks. As such, we recommend no changes to our current investment mixes. Lastly, we would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!