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Market Direction Is Important –
Updated Chart of the S&P 500 and Secondary Signals
Of our Four secondary indicators under our MTI:
Relative Strength Index (RSI)-Positive
Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)-Positive
MACD- Positive
Money Flow Index-MFI-Positive
More on the Market and the Economy:
Stocks finished higher on Friday and the S&P 500 closed at a new record high, ending the week up .9%, marking its fourth consecutive weekly advance.
Source: dshort.com
This week data will be released on builder confidence, existing home sales, housing starts, the Conference Board’s leading economic indicators and GDP.
As widely expected, the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point at last week’s FOMC meeting. In its statement the central bank said that “the labor market has continued to strengthen” and “economic activity has been rising at a solid rate”. The Fed maintained its projection for three rate hikes in 2018.
Job openings fell to just below 6 million in October after reaching a record 6.18 million the month prior, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, with hires at 5.55 million. While not enough to counter the decline, job openings for maids, waiters and construction workers rose.
Retail sales climbed .8% last month, led by online sellers, with a boost from the start of the holiday shopping season. Minus autos, sales rose a higher 1%.
Small business optimism jumped sharply in November, as the NFIB optimism index approached a record high. According to the NFIB, “We haven’t seen this kind of optimism in 34 years…Small business owners are exuberant about the economy, and they are ready to lead the U.S. economy in a period of robust growth”. Eight of the ten components posted gains and while job creation faded, “hiring plans soared, primarily in construction, manufacturing, and professional services”.
The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast for fourth quarter growth rose to 3.3% as projections for consumer spending picked up following the release of retail sales data.
