Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, had some wonderful news to deliver this Monday morning as investors eagerly watched the index and monitored their gains and losses, in lieu of a virtually record breaking day in the stock market.
“The Dow is what gets all the news among the public, as it is more widely recognized, but for the insider and for technical reasons, it’s more important for the S&P 500 to breach its previous closing high,” Luschini stated.
The S&P 500 index SPX +0.32% added 5.04 points, or 0.3%, to 1,556.22, leaving it around nine points from its closing high of 1,565.15, hit in October 2007.
If it closes this week at that point, there will be many a folk crying that a bad economy is no longer. But given how much the market has increased since 2012, investors should actually have plenty of reason to remain confident about the healthy future of the market.
“As long as there is this widely held view that we’re in for a correction, we’re likely not going to have one,” added Luschini of his anticipation of a healthier stock market this year.
Some disconcerting information about the decline of certain commodities in China, the world’s second largest economy, however, had some investors wary of the future.
“With China’s revival that we had seen coming out of last year, these figures collectively were a little bit of a setback,” said Luschini, referencing the slowing pace of the Chinese economy, and how that has an intrinsic effect on the worldwide economy.
Still, China aside, the stock market is on pace to shatter records that have not been broken for more than six years. If that happens this week, it’s safe to say that it could be a sign of a much healthier and more robust economy. This news, coupled with all time lows of unemployment (since the recession), could make for one satiable and fortuitous 2013 for investors, and the entire nation, as we slowly regain strong economic rhythm post the worst recession in the history of our nation.