“In life and business, there are two cardinal sins, the first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all.” – Carl Icahn
Happy Monday!
I spent most of the past two weeks in Atlanta and New York following up on several diligence efforts and observing an active market that wants to “Charge Ahead”!
Overall the markets moved higher for the fourth consecutive week as bulls pushed the markets into record territory. Much of the move in the markets was squarely on the back of significant and overall positive macroeconomic data that surfaced throughout the week which culminated with a better than expected jobs report that confirmed that the unemployment rate is at a 5-decade low while wages were confirmed to have increased a bit too.
We were also many earnings beats across a number of sectors. As a result of this past week's reveals, we saw the S&P 500 move up +1.5% closing setting an all-time high and closing at 3066.91 and is now up +22.3% YTD. Eight of the eleven S&P 500 sectors rose as the health care sector led the way with a 3% jump.
The Dow rose 1.4% ending at 27,347.36 & is up 17.2% YTD and giving us the impression that the 28K level could be possible.
The Tech-heavy Nasdaq also set a new all-time high as it gained 1.7% closing at 8,386.40 & is up 26.4% YTD. The Russell 2000 advanced by 2% this week ending at 1,589.33 and is up 17.9% YTD.
In the next few weeks ahead, significant economic data will be revealed. On Monday, 11/4, we will receive the durable goods report, on Tuesday we get the Services Purchasing Manager's Index report, and then on Friday, we get the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment report.
Another equally important market mover over the next couple of weeks will be the results of the US-China trade pact (Phase I) and how ambitious it turns out to be. Right now, there is hedging from both sides as they inch closer to announcing a deal, but it is clear to me that politically both sides need a deal … so look for some important announcements before the end of the year.
In our “Stocks In Our View” section we remain very bullish on both Microsoft and Adobe as both have done very well in the recent quarter and YTD and should perform well through the end of the year.
Thanks again for your consideration & for sharing your thoughts and ideas with us.
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Best regards,
Vinnie
Vincent M. Oddo
Managing Partner
PointFour Capital, LLC
vincent.oddo@pointfourcapital.com