Anniversaries are great. And in this case, investors should be celebrating.
The current bull market is now the longest in history. Thanks to a strong economy and better earnings, the period of stock gains has now eclipsed 3,453 days. Helping the gains was an easing of the situation in Turkey. While the nation isn’t out of the woods just yet, moves to stem the currency crisis seem to be working and traders cheered that fact.
Also helping this week has been a string of positive data points and the start of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Members of the Federal Reserve will gather to discuss policy and the direction of the economy. Analysts predict that the news will mostly be good from the conference and that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will potentially ease up on the pace of rate hikes.
As for earnings, the pace of earnings season has dipped significantly. However, this week did feature a few major M&A deals brought about by rising earnings and cash flows. With the lower corporate rate having a positive effect on earnings, firms have been going shopping in spades. And this helped boost equity prices further over the week.
All in all, the market managed to push through its records, and there is potentially no end in sight.
Click here to read our previous edition where investors focussed on geopolitical and economic events.
