Stocks were sharply higher today, probably on continued hopes for European Central Bank actions such as buying sovereign bonds again, something thought off the table since they quit buying bonds 4 months ago and Germany had been critical of the idea.
The 2Q GDP # today was better that many had feared and the two prior quarters were revised upward so that didn’t hurt either. Economic news otherwise was mixed.
The S&P 500 gained nearly 2% on the day and finished at a higher peak than the last three peaks, something technical chart watchers should really like. Since the week was flat until this morning, the neary 2% gains was also the gain for the week.
Bonds were down but US Treasuries are amazingly high priced now. The Treasury sold 7 year bonds yesterday at less than 1%!
UNG was off nearly 2%, oil was up as was gold.
Banks did well. Citigroup was up 5% this week and JP Morgan nearly 9%. Bank of America was up 3%.