Stocks Up For The Second Week In A Row  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed mostly higher on Friday with the Dow and the S&P in the green, while the Nasdaq just missed out. But they were all higher for the week, making it the second week in a row. The war on Ukraine continues. Reports from Turkey that progress has been made on 4 of the 6 items that Russia and Ukraine have been negotiating for a cease fire was welcomed news. But with the remaining 2 items having to do with Ukraine giving up some seized territory, it's unclear where that leaves the talks. Nonetheless, with Russia getting bogged down (although still able to inflict mass destruction and casualties), and Ukraine putting up an impressive and inspiring fight, there's still hope that a negotiated end to hostilities will be forthcoming soon. In other news, the Pending Home Sales Index was lower by -4.1% m/m vs. the consensus for a gain of 0.9%. The index slipped to 104.9 from 109.4. Consumer Sentiment also slipped, but by a lesser amount, to 59.4 (down -0.50%) from last month's 59.7. No doubt the high inflation reading and war on Ukraine are weighing on sentiment. Nonetheless, the economy is doing well (all things considered, i.e., high inflation and high oil and gas prices). And we'll get a look at how well corporate earnings are doing as earnings season is set to begin in about two weeks. We've already seen a sizeable rally off of the correction lows. But since stocks typically going up during earnings season, there's definitely room for more upside. And since earnings estimates for the S&P have been going up, while valuations have gone down, the gains could be even more pronounced. For now, the market's got two up weeks in a row under its belt. Let's see if they can make it three this week. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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