Stocks have continued to surge higher in recent weeks as economic news has turned for the better, the number of coronavirus cases have declined and earnings have generally been quite good. This week continued that trend as stocks moved higher throughout most of the week.
Economic data has generally been pretty positive. Key measures of manufacturing and consumer health surged this week as well as big positive gains in employment. All of this gave traders optimism about the economic recovery and that the U.S. could be moving beyond the worst of the pandemic’s damage.
This was echoed in the recent upswing in earnings. While the official season has started to trickle down, the remaining firms reporting have generally seen positive and better-than-expected results. Even more positive was that guidance figures also seem to be getting better.
Combining this upbeat news with the latest coronavirus data, investors were once again pleased with the decline in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
For investors, this overall encouraging news sent stocks higher for most of the week.
Be sure to check out our previous Wrap here, when stocks hit more record highs!
