The world of investing doesn’t exist in a vacuum, everything is correlated somehow. Stocks influence bonds, trade influences currency, gold vs the dollar, market inflows vs outflows, oil prices, politics and on and on it goes. I want to take a minute and look at the big picture of where we are at in the market today.
Weakening Dollar
The dollar index continues to decline. In fact it has been on a downward slope since the start of 2017.
S&P Nears the Top
Even with all the political dysfunction the stock market, or at the large cap index, continues to climb to near time highs. Today it closed at 2473.45, just 4 points shy of its all time high of 2477.62.
Nasdaq At All Time Highs
The Nasdaq hits an all time high via a 10 day win streak. Companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Netflix continue there dominance in today’s new economy. The market hasn’t shown us a reason to bet against these stocks yet.
Amazon on Top
Amazon continues its dominance of online and offline retail. It’s stock is also at an all-time high. The recent deal with Nike, the Whole Foods acquisition and today’s announcement Sear’s will sell Kenmore appliances on Amazon it’s nothing but good news for the stock.
International
International markets are also riding the wave up, IXUS is nearing an all time high too. IXUS is trading at a level last seen during the summer of 2014.
US Employment
US Jobless claims continue to march lower, last week the labor department reported a five month low of 233,000 initial claims. The unemployment rate is at 4.4%.
Synopsis
There is a lot to be excited about, the markets seem absolutely unstoppable. Whether you’re in the S&P, Tech, international you’re up. Even with US politics in disarray the economy continues to create jobs and the equity markets continue to rise.
I think the biggest risks right now are political. Could Congress drop the ball on raising the debt ceiling? Or maybe Trump will attempt to halt the special investigation into his campaign’s dealings with Russia? Perhaps Republicans won’t be able to come together to even pass more tax cuts. Any one these I’m sure would negatively impact the market’s momentum.
For now though I think it’s best to just enjoy hold on and enjoy the ride…but with one eye open for the exit.
