Tag Archives: S&P 500

S & P 500 Index Reaches New High

Economy, ,

One of the most highly watched indices of the US stock market, the S&P 500 closed on Tuesday, August 18th, at a record 3,389.78, close to 3 points above its previous high that was set last February 19th.

And the S & P 500 was not alone. The NASDAQ also climbed to a new record, passing its previous June high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average came within just 5% of its own February peak.

After the pandemic began to negatively affect the US and world economy, the stock market took an unprecedented nosedive, losing about one third of its value. But US stocks have been on the rebound since the US central bank announced a banquet of innovative economic support directives on March 23rd.

One analyst was surprised by the speed and strength of the market’s recovery, especially since the country is still faced with a pandemic that is ravaging many locations across the country, with many businesses closing and enormous numbers of people losing their jobs.

Observers believe the recovery is partly explained by actions taken by the Federal Reserve and other kinds of stimulus plus investors who are sure the economy will eventually get back on track and see the stock market as a good place to make money on that prediction.

Driving the stock market’s positive performance are to a large extent technology stocks. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon are among those companies that have benefited from lockdowns as people shelter at home and use their devices and internet more than ever. Cloud computing and machine learning companies have also benefited.

“We would not be flirting with all-time highs were it not for technology,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth Management.

Surprise Uptick in Employment Boosts Stock Market

Economy, , , ,
Image by FrankundFrei from Pixabay

Beginning in September 2010 until March 2020 the United States added more than 22 million jobs to the economy. Then came the historic COVID-19 pandemic that wiped almost that entire 10-year gain in a mere 6 weeks. In only a little more than one month the unemployment rate skyrocketed from about 3.5% in February to a high of 14.7% in April. The trend for May has reversed that free-fall, with unemployment dropping to 13.3%, less than many were expecting.
The re-opening of the economy, including a return to work of employees to the leisure and hospitality, construction, education, health services, and retail sectors, has lifted the total number of employed during the month of May.


The good news about employment caused a rise in the stock market, with the NASDAQ almost reaching a record high. The S&P went up more than 2% and is now only 1% shy of where it was at the beginning of 2020, and less than 6 percentage points short of where it was in February, before corona burst onto the planet, to devastating effect.


The NASDAQ, which weighs towards hi-tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft, is protected to a certain degree from economic downturns down-turns. The sheer size of these companies is protective, but in addition, lockdowns necessitated by the coronavirus did not affect tech companies as much since workers can more easily pivot to working from home than traditional companies that require a human workforce to interface with consumers. Even more, the dependence consumers had on e-commerce during the lockdown boosted the strength of these types of companies.


During May employers added 2.5 million jobs to the job market, despite the prediction by economists that the government was going to report the loss of 8 million jobs during the month.