S&P 500 Closes At All-Time High After Roller-Coaster Week

Topline

Stocks ended the week higher after a slew of better-than-anticipated earnings helped prop up gains among the major indexes on Friday, closing out a roller coaster of a week marked by promising vaccine prospects and heightened trade tensions.

Key Facts

Crucial Quote 

“Third-quarter earnings season has been outstanding relative to expectations by many measures, and the huge upside surprise in earnings may get more attention as more political uncertainty clears,” says LPL Financial Equity Strategist Jeffrey Buchbinder. “S&P 500 companies have a shot at returning to pre-pandemic levels of corporate profits in 2021, which we didn’t think was possible just a couple of months ago,” he adds, noting that it’s still very unclear how much earnings power corporations will have post-pandemic.

Tangent

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives reiterated in a Friday morning note to clients that the Biden presidency and “very likely” Republican Senate is a “goldilocks scenario” for tech stocks heading into 2021, adding that the ongoing U.S.-China “Cold Tech War” would likely take a softer tone under Biden. “This would be a major bullish sign for the likes of Apple, Cisco and [others that] are caught in the crossfire on this ongoing U.S.-China battle with 5G front and center,” he added, referencing bans on Chinese firms like Huawei from 5G networks in other countries. Lame-duck President Donald Trump on Thursday banned people in the U.S. from investing in Chinese firms it deems to support China’s military—Huawei included.

Surprising Fact

Historically, Friday the 13ths in November are worse for stocks than in any other month, notes Ryan Detrick, the chief market strategist for LPL Financial. “But don’t forget, the last time we had a Friday the 13th was in March and the S&P 500 gained 9.3%, for the best gain ever on this frightful day in history,” he adds.

Further Reading

Dow Falls Nearly 200 Points As Shutdowns Return Amid Covid Surge, Vaccine Rally Hits Pause (Forbes)

Trump Bans Americans From Investing In Chinese Companies That Support China’s Military (Forbes)

U.S Will Have Enough Covid Vaccine Doses By Mid-2021, Plus 5 More Big Predictions From Goldman Sachs (Forbes)

Another 709,000 People Filed For Unemployment Last Week Amid Coronavirus Surge (Forbes)