The Wall Street bull-run, which entered its longest ever expansionary phase on Aug 22, is showing no signs of abatement. Despite trade war concerns, a robust U.S. economy and strong earnings results boosted investors’ confidence in the stock markets.

Strong economic fundamentals have once again aided market participants’ appetite for relatively risky assets like equities. Such factors are likely to pave the way for further upside in the fourth quarter. Consequently, it makes sense to invest in good growth stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank to maximize returns.

Broader Market Northbound

Month Dow 30 S&P 500 Nasdaq January 5.8% 5.6% 7.4% February -4.3% -3.9% -1.9% March -3.5% -2.7% -2.9% April 0.3% 0.3% 0.1% May 1.1% 2.2% 5.3% June -0.6% 0.5% 0.9% July 4.7% 3.6% 2.0% August 2.2% 3.0% 5.7% September 1.9% 0.4% -0.8%

The table clearly shows that stock market fluctuations which pushed all the three major indexes into the negative territory in February and March gradually diminished in the last six months. Barring a minor fluctuation of the Dow in June and Nasdaq Composite in September, all three indexes have provided positive returns in every month up to September.

Major Indexes Near Record High

The Dow – the 30 stock blue-chip index – is up 7.8% year to date. The index is just 0.4% away from the all-time high of 26,769.15 recorded on Sep 21.

The benchmark S&P 500 index – generally utilized by market participants as the barometer of the broad market movement – is up 9.4% year to date. The index is just 0.2% below the all-time high of 2,930.75 that it set on Sep 20.

The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite is up 16.4% year to date. The index is currently 1.2% away from its record high level of 8,133.30 registered on Aug 30.

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