Stocks closed higher on the day Friday to end what was a record week for stocks, specifically for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ. The S&P 500 gained +.34% to 3,397.16, a new record closing high. The NASDAQ climbed +.4% and ended the day at 11,311.80, also a record close. The DOW finished trading up 190.6 points at 27,930.33, a gain of about +.7%.
On a weekly level, the S&P 500 gained +.72%, the NASDAQ outperformed gaining +2.6% on the week, and the DOW was left in the dust finishing flat on the week.
The NASDAQ's significant move can be directly attributed to Apple, which rose +8.2% this week and became the first publicly traded company in the U.S. to reach a market valuation of $2 trillion. Amazon and Alphabet rallied over +4% this week while Microsoft gained +1.97%.
There were a few other contributing factors that helped the market reach record levels this week. One was data from IHS Markit showed U.S. manufacturing activity hit its highest level in 19 months in August, while services were at their highest level in 17 months.
The other was existing-home sales for July saw a record month-over-month spike of +24.7%. The average selling price for homes also hit an all-time high, jumping to $304,100.
Key Levels To Watch Next Week:
- S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 3,284.53
- Dow (INDEX:DJI): 26,534.38
- NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 10,762.71
- U.S. Dollar (ICE:DX): 93.99
- Gold (NYMEX:GC.Z20): 1,963.10
- Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.V20): 42.98
- Bitcoin (BITCOIN:BITSTAMPUSD): 10,559.59
Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com
