Stocks Up Again, On Pace To Close Higher For The Week  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed higher again yesterday. And with one more trading day to go, the major indexes are poised to close higher for the week. The Nasdaq, once again, led the way with 1.36%. The S&P was up 0.99%. And the Dow added 0.51%. For the week, so far, the Nasdaq is up 5.30%. The S&P is up 3.51%. And the Dow is up 2.39%. Earnings season has so far been coming in better than expected. (Although, maybe not so much for Snap, as they reported negative sales and earnings surprises after the close yesterday and were down more than -26% in after-hours trade.) While financials were largely on deck this week, next week is big tech's turn. In other news, Weekly Jobless Claims were up 7,000 at 251K vs. the consensus for 240K. The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index came in at -12.3 vs. last month's -3.3 and views for 0.4. And Leading Indicators dipped -0.8% vs. last month's downwardly revised -0.6% and estimates for -0.5%. Today we'll get the PMI Composite Flash report, and the Baker Hughes Rig Count report. And, of course, more earnings with 43 companies on deck for today. (Next week really kicks into gear with 1,063 set to report.) But the main event next week will be the FOMC Announcement on Wednesday, July 27th. That's when the Fed will announce whether they raised interest rates by 50, 75 or 100 basis points. The consensus is calling for 75. Traders will also want to know what their intentions are moving forward as well, as there are 3 more Fed meetings scheduled for the remainder of the year (September 20-21, November 1-2, and December 13-14). In the meantime, stocks have remained above their June lows for 5 weeks. In fact, they've done more than just remain above them as the Dow is up 7.05% from their lows, while the S&P is up 9.06%, and the Nasdaq is up 13.28% from their lows. There's still plenty more work to be done as all of the major indexes are still down double digits from their highs.
But it's been a fantastic bounce so far. And since stocks typically go up during earnings season (and there's a lot more earnings season to go), there could be a lot more upside to go for the market. Best,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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