May 30, 2008
Today was the fourth positive close for the NASDAQ and the S&P500 in as many days. So these indices moved up on every session in this holiday week of only four trading days.
While the DJIA failed to increase on Friday, its decline was a mere -.06 percent.
What could we have said if the DJIA had stayed in positive territory? It would have been the 13th instance, since January 2000, of all three indices moving higher in four successive sessions; that four of these events occurred between August 17, 2006 and November 15, 2006; that in this time period, the NASDAQ gained 13.2 percent, the DJIA increased 8.1 percent and the S&P500 added 7.7 percent to its value.
Nevertheless it was a positive week for all three indices, with the NASDAQ gaining 3.2 percent and almost returning to its two weeks ago close. The S&P500 rose 1.88 percent this week, while the DJIA advanced 1.27 percent.
Looking at the record, in this the 22nd week of the year, the S&P500 stands even, with 11 positive and 11 negative weeks, but is .7 percent below its first week of the year close. The DJIA has moved higher in 12 of these weeks, but nevertheless is 1.27 percent below the start of 2008. Only the NASDAQ is above -by .7 percent- its January 4 level although it has moved higher in only ten weeks this year.
DJIA -.06 percent
NASDAQ .57 percent
S&P500 .26 percent