The Standard and Poors index (SPX) opened modestly higher yesterday, closing the day’s trading at 4247, up 9 points or 0.2% for the day. SPX opened Monday morning at 4229, so the index barely made it back to its starting point, up 0.4% for the week. Friday’s close was another all-time high and completes a slow and steady climb for the past three to four weeks. Trading volume declined all week.
VIX, the volatility index for the S&P 500 options, was up and down this week, but declined strongly Thursday and Friday, closing yesterday at 15.7%. This is the lowest volatility reading this year.
The IWM ETF, based upon the Russell 2000 index, declined significantly Wednesday and Thursday, but still closed Friday up 2.42 at 231.70. IWM closed the week with a gain of 1.8%, a much stronger gain than the larger, more conservative S&P stocks. That suggests that a more bullish attitude is taking hold.
The NASDAQ Composite index closed Friday at 14069, up 49 points or 0.4%. NASDAQ posted the strongest and steadiest gains this week of the large cap indices, with a 1.8% gain. NASDAQ’s trading volume came to life this week, spiking above the 50 dma on Wednesday but declining the balance of the week.
This week in the market was a bit choppy, and trended steadily but modestly higher.
The overall market has been trending higher since May 19th:
• The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and set a new all-time high.
• The Russell 2000 was up 7.4% and is now 0.8% below its all-time high.
• The NASDAQ Composite was up 7.6% and is now 0.5% below its all-time high.
The S&P 500 set a new all-time high on Friday, but the Russell 2000 and the NASDAQ Composite are not far behind. Volatility is the lowest of this year. This is the bull market we have been hoping for in the midst of all of this whipsawing back and forth. But it still pays to be cautious; I don’t want to be one of the fools rushing in too soon.
Slow and Steady
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