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Week-in-Review: Stocks Head Higher Last Week (ending April 29, 2011)

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Services for Real Estate Pros

Once again, investors on Wall Street sent stock prices higher and the Dow Jones Industrial Average wound UP 4% for April, its best monthly gain since December. This happened in spite of the still slipping home prices covered above, plus a preliminary Q1 GDP reading of just a 1.8% annual growth rate. But consumer inflation is up only 1.8% versus a year ago and Core PCE prices, which exclude food and energy, came in just 0.9% up over the past year. Consequently, the Fed, as expected, kept the Funds rate at its rock bottom level coming out of their FOMC meeting on Wednesday.

That meeting was followed by the historic, first-ever press conference by a Fed chairman. Ben Bernanke used this event to tell the world he doesn't see the need for any policy changes or a hike in the Funds rate. Investors approved of this steady-as-she-goes attitude from the Fed and were further buoyed by more good news on corporate earnings. Around 300 of the S&P 500 companies have now reported their Q1 earnings and 74% delivered upside surprises. Overall, corporate earnings are now forecast to go up 16% this quarter, way better than the original 11.5% estimate.

For the week, the Dow ended UP 2.4%, at 12,811; the S&P 500 was also UP 2.0%, to 1,364; and the Nasdaq was UP 1.9%, ending at 2,874.

From my weekly enewsletter INSIDE LENDING for Real Estate Pros, Week of May 2, 2011

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