Sometimes “not as bad” can be a good thing. At least that was one of the catalysts behind today’s rally.
Traders seemed to like the fact that earnings for Apple (AAPL). weren’t as bad as expected since AAPL was up almost 7% and major indices jumped across the board.
Traders were also focused on the Fed today. And the Fed did not disappoint.
Today the Fed announced that they would keep rates unchanged. The decision was expected. But the Fed saying they will be “patient” when raising rates was music to the ears of anyone that believes the Fed has played a large role in holding stocks back.
The Fed said that “in light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures, the Committee will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate.”
Today’s rally puts the major indices at highs of the year. And the DOW closed back above 25,000 today.
There’s still a ways to go in order to get back to record highs set in 2018. But the strong start to 2019 has erased a big portion of the losses that were experienced in December.
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Here’s where the major indices ended the day:
- The S&P finished with a 1.6% gain. Up 41 points, the S&P ended at 2,681.
- The DOW ended higher by 1.8%. Adding 435 points, the DOW closed at 25,015.
- The NASDAQ was up 2.2%. With a 155 point gain, the NASDAQ finished at 7,183.
- Bitcoin finished higher by 1.5%. Up $50, Bitcoin ended at $3,415.
Crude Oil (CL) finished higher for the 2nd day in a row today. Up 1.9%, CL ended at $54.31 a barrel.
Apple (AAPL) opened higher after yesterday’s earnings report. The report showed that both earnings and revenue were slightly better than the bad numbers expected after the company issued a warning on January 2nd. Apple finished the day with a 6.8% gain.
Boeing (BA) was higher after a big earnings beat. BA ended the day with a 6.3% gain.
Earnings have been pretty good so far. Q4 earnings have beaten estimates by 2%, with 38% of the S&P 500 companies reporting.
Today was a busy day between the Fed and Apple earnings. But it will be busy tomorrow as well.
Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA) will be in the spotlight since they reported earnings after today’s bell. We also have General Electric (GE) and Amazon (AMZN) reporting tomorrow.
Here is the economic calendar for the week:
Real Time Economic Calendar provided by Investing.com.
Source: RockwellTrading by Markus Heitkoetter | Original Link