Stocks Closed Higher Yesterday, Led By Small-Caps  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed higher yesterday with all of the major indexes in the green. The small-cap Russell 2000 index led the way with a 0.84% gain. Although, stocks are still down for the week with 2 days left to go. But a lot can happen in 2 days. Yesterday's MBA Mortgage Applications report showed the composite index down -1.2%, with purchases down -0.5%, and refi's down -2.8%. The Pending Home Sales Index was down again, but beat expectations by slipping only -1.0% m/m vs. the consensus for -2.5%. Last month's report was downwardly revised to -8.9%. The Survey of Business Uncertainty showed U.S. firms expecting sales growth to come in at 4.73%. This is down from last month's pace of 5.01%, but still shows a positive outlook. Views on employment growth, however, topped last month's 5.06% to come in at 5.44%. And the Durable Goods Orders report showed New Orders were flat at 0.0% m/m vs. last month's 2.2% and views for 0.5%. Ex-Transportation it was up 0.3% vs. last month's 0.3% and the consensus for 0.1%. And Core Capital Goods were up 0.4%. That's on top of last month's upwardly revised 0.9%. Today we'll get Weekly Jobless Claims, Corporate Profits, and the second estimate for Q2 GDP. The first estimate showed a contraction of -0.9%. The consensus for the second estimate remains unchanged at -0.9% as well. The Jackson Hole Symposium starts today and runs thru Saturday. But it's the speech from Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, on Friday morning, that everybody is waiting for. With the next Fed meeting not until September 20-21, traders will be listening to every word Mr. Powell has to say to glean any insight as to how high the Fed will raise rates come September.
In the meantime, while stocks are off their recent highs from last week, they are still up double digits from their lows with the Dow up 10.2%, the S&P up 12.9%, the Nasdaq up 16.8%, and the Russell 2000 up 17.3%. It's been an incredible rally since stocks put in their lows in mid-June. Ironically enough, right when everyone was saying that stocks were going to crash even further, they instead surged higher. To be fair, the economy has its problems. And growth has slowed. But there's still plenty of positives in the economy as well, not the least of which is a sizzling jobs market, strong aggregate demand, strong corporate earnings, and another trillion dollars in stimulus hitting the economy between the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Those who kept their eyes on the big picture were able to catch this move. And are positioned for further gains as well. Another group of investors reading the tea leaves correctly are company insiders. Who better to know what's happening with their company than those closest to it? If you're looking for additional ways to find stocks with big upside potential, consider looking at what the insiders are doing. Insiders at publicly traded companies are required by law to disclose their purchases. And do so within 48 hours of their trade. When top executives at companies are buying more shares, or when large numbers of executives are making new purchases, that can send a powerful signal that something good is happening to that company, and could soon be happening to that stock. To learn more about this type of insider trading and how you can benefit from it, please check out our latest commentary... Buy When Everyone is Selling Best,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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