Stocks Up Again, More New Highs For The Dow, S&P Close To Making New Highs Of Their Own

Market Moves You Need to See Stocks Up Again, More New Highs For The Dow, S&P Close To Making New Highs Of Their Own [Kevin Matras - EVP - Photo] Profit from the Pros By Kevin Matras Executive Vice President Stocks Up Again, More New Highs For The Dow, S&P Close To Making New Highs Of Their Own [Stocks Up Again, More New Highs For The Dow, S&P Close To Making New Highs Of Their Own ]Image: Shutterstock Stocks closed higher again yesterday. The Dow made another new all-time high, and the S&P is now just 0.77% away from making a new all-time high of their own. It's been just shy of 2 years since the S&P made new highs. It was January 4, 2022 when it happened. With 2 more trading days left, we could very well see it happen again before the week/year is over. If not, next week would be its 2-year anniversary since those highs were made. And next week would be just as fitting to cross that threshold as this week. Either way, it looks like those highs will soon be eclipsed. Just a matter of when. After the S&P, the countdown for new highs will begin for the Nasdaq Composite, the small-cap Russell 2000, and the mid-cap S&P 400. But for now, the watch is for the S&P 500. Yesterday's Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index slipped to -11 vs. last month's -5 and the consensus for -6. And the Survey of Business Uncertainty showed U.S. firms expecting 4.01% sales growth over the next 12 months, a slight downtick from last month's 4.14%. They also expect employment growth of 4.24% over that same time frame, which is up slightly from last month's 4.16% outlook. Today we'll get Weekly Jobless Claims, the International Trade In Goods report, Retail and Wholesale Inventories, and Pending Home Sales. At the top, I mentioned how it's been nearly two full years since the S&P made a new high. This is particularly interesting because history shows in the previous 14 times when the S&P has gone at least a full year without a new high, and then finally made one – a year later it was higher in 13 out of those 14 times, and up nearly 15% on average. We haven't hit it yet. But it could be any day now. As you know, the Dow eclipsed their old high less than 3 weeks ago, and has already added another 1.90% on top of it. They too made their previous high back in January of 2022. So it took them nearly 2 years as well. Couple all of that with inflation on the decline, interest rates expected to head lower, and the fact that stocks typically do well in Presidential election years (the 4-year Presidential Cycle shows that year 3 (2023), is the best year for stocks, while year 4 (that's 2024), is the second-best year), and next year looks like it's shaping up to be another great year. In the meantime, the Santa Claus rally continues. 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