The S&P 500 Holds in the Face of Uncertainty

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On Wednesday, shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) jumped 6.1% following a report that showed an increased demand for its iPhone 7. The record increase in revenues of $78.4 billion ended a record of three consecutive quarters of declines, and helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average gain 0.1% by adding 51 points to the index. Apple’s gain also helped propel the Nasdaq to a gain for the day of 0.5%.

Apple’s gain helped the session to open higher, but the positive impact of one stock’s opening didn’t’ last long. All of the gains of the opening were lost by noon. However, following the noon hour’s lows, a Federal Reserve decision to leave interest rates unchanged, and several positive economic reports helped gain back about half of the morning’s losses enabling the major indices to close with modest gains.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 27 points at 19,891, the S&P 500 eked out a point at 2,280, the Nasdaq rose 28 points to close at 5,643 and the Russell 2000 closed at 1,361, unchanged. The NYSE’s primary exchange traded 1 billion shares with total volume of 3.9 billion shares. The Nasdaq crossed 2.2 billion shares. On the Big Board, decliners edged out advancers by 1.1-to-1, while the Nasdaq broke even. The NYSE’s blocks were reported as 6,510 down from 6,786 on Tuesday.

S&P 500 maintains spt
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The S&P 500 Holds in the Face of Uncertainty

In spite of the many underlying uncertainties, the S&P 500 (and the Nasdaq) have maintained support. The S&P 500’s December high at 2,277 is the “line in the sand” for this major index, as is Nasdaq’s January high at 5,574.

Conclusion: The January closing highs of the major indices are breakout points that must hold if the short-term and intermediate-term trend is to remain intact.

A gap exists on the 500 from 2,292 to 2,286. That gap was partially closed by yesterday’s intraday high at 2,289. This technical issue is an important focus for this major index, since a failure to proceed higher could easily lead to a 5% to 10% correction. So far the major indices have resisted the anxiety produced by many uncertainties, choosing to hold or buy rather than give in to the sellers.

The line at 2,277 was pierced but recovered. The question now is, “Can it hold?”

Today’s Trading Landscape

To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today, click here.

For a list of this week’s economic reports due out, click here.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/02/sp-500-holds-uncertainty/.

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