On Saturday, Trump noted that the stock market hit an “all-time” high on Friday in spite of what he called the “hoax story” about ties between his presidential campaign and Russia. Trump tweeted: “Stock Market hit another all-time high yesterday – despite the Russian hoax story!” Trump was telling the truth.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed 84.65 points higher at 21,637.74, a record. The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent to close at 2,453.82, also a record.The Nasdaq also did well rising 0.6 percent to 6,312.47. Trump also praised the latest job numbers as looking very good as in June the economy added 222,000 jobs which was up considerably from only 152,000 in May. It was also above the estimate of 138,000. However, the numbers are in line with the average monthly job growth the US experienced during former President Obama’s last year in office.
The main Canadian market the S&P/TSX also went up 39.81 points or .26 percent at 15.174.81. Surprisingly, bank shares in the US showed declines, even though JP Morgan Chase & Co. and other big banks came out with quarterly results that were above the expectations of Wall Street. If the banks had risen the gains of the market would have been even greater. Resource stocks and telecom stocks led advances.
The chances of an interest rate hike are declining. Lee Ferridge, head of macro strategy for North America at State Street Global Markets of Boston said: “The data is pointing to this continuation of fairly accommodative policy which has obviously served the market well over the last few years. So as far as the market is concerned, it’s sort of more of the same.” The CBOE Volatility index closed at its lowest since way back in December of 1993. Over the week, the Dow moved up 1.1 percent, the S&P 500, 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq a full 2.6 percent. US investors appear to be unfazed by the strident political discourse and daily battles involving Donald Trump. Investors appear satisfied the Trump presidency is not preventing the US economy from doing relatively well in terms of business interests. A Dow Jones Index record was also established back on Wednesday as shown on the appended video.
