S&P 500; US Indexes Fundamental Daily Forecast – Stocks Mixed after Dow Opens at Record High

The major U.S. stock indexes are trading mixed at the mid-session. Trading was brisk and bullish early in the session, led by the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average which opened at an all-time high. Traders continued to react to calls for better-than-expected earnings.

While the Dow gave back some of its gains along with the S&P 500, the NASDAQ Composite turned lower for the session, continuing the weakness seen late last week.

The Dow was led higher by a 1.2 percent jump in Boeing shares. The airplane manufacturer rose in response to the announcement that it expects a record number of aircraft orders from India. Last week, the stock climbed sharply in response to better-than-expected quarterly results.

The bench mark S&P 500 Index was led higher earlier in the session by strong gains in the financial sector, but gave up those gains and turned flat, led by weakness in the real estate and information technology sectors.

The NASDAQ Composite was once again under pressure as investors continued to take profits in large-cap tech stocks like Facebook and Alphabet, Google’s parent.

Despite the political turmoil in Washington and the geopolitical uncertainty over North Korea and Venezuela, stocks investors have managed to remain focused on earnings. The current earning’s season has been driven by positive surprises for investors. According to FactSet, seventy-three percent of the S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Friday had topped estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Stocks have also been supported recently by persistently low Treasury yields and firmer crude oil prices.

Even with the risk in Washington over the major shake-ups in the White House, the on-going Russian investigation and the Trump administration’s inability to repeal and replace Obama Care as well as pass a tax reform bill, reduce regulations and increase infrastructure spending, stock investors have been complacent enough to drive the ViX or volatility index to historical lows.

They say the trend is your friend, but the recent price action suggests the markets are moving higher because of asset allocation plays and earnings. Perhaps when earnings season is over, volatility will start creeping back into the market.