The S&P 500 index reached 4,500 on Thursday for the first time in more than 15 months. It’s the latest milestone that has Wall Street’s equity bulls taking a victory lap.
Ed Yardeni, founder and president of Yardeni Research, correctly anticipated that the S&P 500’s closing low from Oct. 12 would mark a durable bottom. Right now, it looks like the market will indeed reach his target in the not-too-distant future, according to Julius de Kempenaer, the senior technical analyst at StockCharts.com. He told MarketWatch that he doesn’t expect the market to face much resistance until 4,600.
“There was a long period of people saying that this was a very fragile market. But that has stopped,” Kempenaer said during a phone interview with MarketWatch. To be sure, the technical setup isn’t the only factor working in the market’s favor. The fundamental outlook for the U.S. economy has improved following the release of Wednesday’s CPI report, which showed inflation in June slowed to its weakest level since August 2021, taking economists by surprise.
“Inflation is poised to moderate over the summer as the Fed dials back its tightening campaign in response. This is a positive combination for risk assets,” Dutta said in research shared with MarketWatch on Thursday.