Stocks Up For The Month, S&P Makes It 7 Months In A Row  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed modestly lower yesterday, but finished another month in the green. And it was the 7th month in a row of gains for the S&P. In fact, since the start of the year, the S&P has been up 7 of the last 8 months, while the Dow and the Nasdaq have each been up 6 of the last 8 months. For even greater perspective, since the pandemic lows in late March of last year (that's 17 months), the S&P has been up in all but 3 of those months. That means the S&P has been up in 14 of the last 17 months. Pretty incredible. And with the economy still growing, the jobs market still expanding, and with intertest rates still near zero (and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future), it looks like there's a lot more upside to go. In other news, retail sales via the Redbook report showed same store sales up 18.6% y/y vs. last month's snapshot of 16.6%. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index was up an adjusted 1.8% m/m vs. the consensus for 1.7%. On an unadjusted basis, it was up 2.2% m/m vs. expectations for 1.8%. On a y/y basis, it's up a whopping 18.6%. The Chicago PMI, however, slipped to 66.8 vs. last month's 73.4 and views for 68.0. And Consumer Confidence slipped as well to 113.8 from last month's 129.1 and the consensus for 123.0. Supply shortages and worker shortages likely impacted the Chicago PMI, while inflation concerns and the rising delta variant likely hampered consumer confidence. You wouldn't know it by looking at retail sales and housing. But the numbers are what they are. Gladly, since the above shortages and inflation worries are expected to be transitory, these weaker numbers should shore up soon. Today we'll get another look at the economy with MBA Mortgage Applications, the PMI and ISM Manufacturing reports, Construction Spending, and the ADP Employment report. Lots of reports on tap. But the report everybody is really waiting for is Friday's always important Employment Situation report. Although, today's ADP report, which is typically seen as a precursor to Friday's employment report, should give us an idea of what the jobs market looked like last month and what to possibly expect come Friday. It's been an incredible run so far. What we are seeing is history in the making. And historic times typically usher in historic price moves.
With so much more left to unfold, be sure you're taking full advantage of it. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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