A number of positive reactions to earnings reports are driving the market higher to close out the month as shares of Facebook (FB) are trading up 5% and General Motors (GM) is up 8%.  Strength in foreign markets on the heels of dovish comments from the BoJ and Chinese officials is also contributing to the positive tone in futures as bulls try and salvage something from what had been a horrible month for US and global equities.

Even though it looks to be ending on a positive note, bulls will no doubt be happy to see this October come to an end.  While the monthly performance numbers will look a bit more respectable with the gains we are likely to see in the final two trading days, as of Monday’s close, the 20-day rate of change in the S&P 500 was one of the weaker readings we had seen during this bull market.  In fact, it was the weakest reading we had since August 2015.  As it always does (eventually), the market recovered from that decline in August 2015, but it was one of the shakier six-month periods that equities have seen during the current bull market.  It wasn’t until February of 2016 that stocks finally made a low and began their epic run.

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