Stocks continue to advance in the new year as the S&P 500 (chart) closed the week at a five year high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) finished the week up 0.40%, the Nasdaq (chart) +0.77% and the small-cap Russell 2000 (chart) added 0.19%. Furthermore, with the S&P 500 (chart) closing at 1472.05, all eyes will be watching next week to see if this key index can break and remain above the 1475 level which has been a key resistance level. However, next week a slew of companies are schedule to report their Q4 earnings results which most likely will be the catalyst to either break these markets out, or once again serve as a key resistance level.
Here are some of the companies that are scheduled to report next week: Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Ebay (NasdaqGS: EBAY), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C) American Express (NYSE: AXP) UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC) General Electric: NYSE: GE) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). So as you can see the markets will have plenty to digest after these bellwether companies report their results. Most pundits believe that this indeed will provide what is needed for the markets to breakout and march towards new highs. Good luck to all.
Have a great weekend 🙂
~George Â