A bull market in the U.S. that has its origins in the Obama-era financial crisis is gaining again with its fourth straight weekly gain, while pushing advances for 2019 past 22 percent.
After a mid-year correction while the Trump administration ramped up its trade war with China, coupled with some fears of a possible recessions, U.S. stocks are not only on solid footing but are gangbusters again.
Three of the past five sessions have ended with new records.
Gains like these have become common in the decade-long rally, having really accelerated after President Trump’s election victory in 2016.
A study by the Bank of American Corp. on equity peaks since 1937 shows that anyone who is uninvested in the last year of an advance meant they lost out on one-fifth of the rally’s overall returns.
A bull market that traces its lineage to the depths of the financial crisis is revving up again, notching its fourth straight weekly gain and pushing its gain in 2019 above 22%. After wavering at mid-year amid a U.S.-China trade war and recession anxieties, American stocks are back in melt-up mode, ending three of the past five sessions at a record.
While nobody knows if it’s getting late for this decade-old rally, gains like these have been common at the tail end of bull markets past. A study by Bank of America Corp. on equity peaks since 1937 shows that being uninvested in the last year of an advance meant foregoing one-fifth of the rally’s overall return.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose to another record after an unexpectedly robust hiring and jobs report from the Labor Department gave an indication that consumers are likely to continue spending, thus extending the record-long expansion, even among continued trade tensions.
Also, stocks got a brief bolster and the dollar trimmed some losses after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that trade negotiators from Beijing and Washington had agreed to a “consensus in principle” on a trade deal.
“The latest economic data come after the Fed lowered rates Wednesday and signaled it is unlikely to make further changes, up or down, any time soon,” Newsmax reported.
“That sent stocks to a record, before a batch of weak economic data and renewed worries over trade weighed on the measure Thursday. The S&P 500 is up 1.5% in the week. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida reiterated in Bloomberg Radio interview that monetary policy is ‘in a good place’ and the consumer is strong,” the report said.