In his midday market commentary on Monday, New York Stock Exchange floor governor Rich Barry notes that over the last three weeks, the Dow is up 7.3% and the S&P 500 is up 7.7%, the best three-week run for these averages since October 2011.
On Monday, stocks were trading higher and making fresh all-time highs, but with no clear catalyst, Barry simply chalked these advances up to there being "more buyers than sellers."
So overall, not much to say about Monday's action.
Barry also notes that technically, the market is short-term "overbought," making it not unlikely that stocks could see a bit of a pullback later this week.
But there are five fundamental points that Barry says market bulls will cite as a reason for stocks to keep grinding higher:
- A 5.8% unemployment rate
- Historically low interest rates
- Modest P/E ratios
- Record earnings
- Cheap oil
There is also a bit of stock market history on the bulls' side.
Barry notes that since 1950, the S&P 500 has average an annualized gain of 13.9% between November and April vs 1.7% between May and October.
And as we highlighted earlier on Monday, at least one Wall Street strategist would tend to agree with the bulls here: "Roll Tide, Roll."