Stocks Closed Higher Yesterday, Small-Caps and Mid-Caps Led The Way  Image: Bigstock Stocks finished higher yesterday with the S&P 500 making a new all-time high close in the process. But the small-cap Russell 2000, and the mid-cap S&P 400 led with gains of 2.13% and 1.64% respectively. After 3 down days in a row, stocks were due for an up day. And we got it yesterday. The major indexes are all up since the Fed's friendly FOMC announcement last week where they reiterated their forecast for 3 rate cuts (presumably by 25 basis points each), by year's end. But they also maintained they will be data dependent. And we'll get another inflation report tomorrow with the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report. Last month's core (ex-food & energy) PCE index came in at 2.8%. That's still above the Fed's 2% target, but well below 2022's peak of 5.3%. In other news, yesterday's MBA Mortgage Applications dipped -0.7% w/w with purchases off -0.2%, and refi's down -1.6%.
And the Survey of Business Uncertainty showed U.S. firms expecting year-ahead sales growth to come in at 3.73% (vs. last month's 3.84% pace), with Employment Growth coming in at 4.07% (vs. last month's 4.14%). Today we'll get the third and final estimate for Q4'23 GDP. The estimate is for 3.2%, in line with the second estimate for the same. We'll also get Weekly Jobless Claims, the Chicago PMI, Pending Home Sales, and Consumer Sentiment. Note, the markets are closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday. So today is the last trading day of this shortened trading week.
And while we'll still get Friday's PCE report, the market won't be able to act on it (in the regular session) until Monday. With just one more trading day to go this week, all of the major indexes (except for the Nasdaq), are currently in the plus column for the week with the Dow up 0.72%, the S&P 500 up 0.27%, the small-cap Russell 2000 up 2.04%, and the mid-cap S&P 400 up 1.44%. The Nasdaq is just under the mark, but it won't take much to get them into the green for the week. Today will also mark the last trading day of the month and the quarter. All of the indexes are up for the month with the big three indexes making it 5 up months in a row. And they are all up for the quarter making it two up quarters in a row. It's been a great year so far. And it looks like there's a lot more upside to go. So make sure you're taking full advantage of it. Enjoy the 3-day long weekend. See you on Monday,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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