Stocks Up Last Week, All Eyes On This Week's Inflation Reports And Fed Meeting  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed higher on Friday with the big 3 indexes in the green. And they closed higher for the week, making it 2 weeks in a row for the Dow, 4 weeks in a row for the S&P, and 7 weeks in a row for the Nasdaq. Additionally, the small-cap Russell 2000, and the mid-cap S&P 400 both closed sharply higher for the week, making it 2 weeks in a row for each. Last week was an important week. For one, the S&P 500 finally caught up to the rest of the indexes and officially exited their bear market. From their bear market low close in October of last year, to last Thursday's close, they notched a 20.04% gain. And crossing that 20% threshold means their bear market has ended and a new bull market has begun. Also of importance was seeing the small-cap and mid-cap indexes rally, along with the equal-weighted S&P 500 index (which is different than the market-weighted S&P 500 which has been powered higher by the top 10 largest stocks this year). The rally in these, which had been lagging, showed that the breadth of the market rally was finally widening. And that was a bullish sign. This week could be an important week as well as we'll get another look at inflation with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Tuesday, and then the Producer Price Index (PPI) on Wednesday. Additionally, the Fed's 2-day FOMC meeting begins on Tuesday, and concludes on Wednesday with their FOMC announcement on rates. At the moment, the expectation is for the Fed to pause on rates. But there's a growing belief that they may raise another 25 basis points at the July meeting. Of course, that all depends on the data we get before then. Quite frankly, this week's June decision could very well hinge on Tuesday's and Wednesday's inflation data. Nonetheless, the odds are currently for a pause on Wednesday. But it's anybody's guess what they'll allude to for July and after. And that's what everybody will be waiting for. In the meantime, stocks are performing well this year.
And there's plenty of reason to believe there's a lot more upside to go. So make sure you're taking full advantage of it. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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