TRADER: Stocks have been on a tear, and 'Santa Claus' will take us to new highs
Stocks are on track to have the best week of 2015.
On Friday afternoon, the S&P 500 was rallying, and had gained about 3.25% for this week.
In an email, NYSE floor governor and steadfast stock-market bull Rich Barry offered one reason for why markets were rallying, but also included a call for a new all-time high before 2015 runs out.
Here's a portion of Barry's email:
What a week we're having! At last look, the S&P 500 is up a whopping 75 handles from Monday, which makes this the best week for the index for the year. Oh, and it gets better. At last look, the Dow is up an insane 653 points since Monday, which makes this the single best week for that index in the last FOUR years... The reason? Investors/traders have grown more comfortable with the prospect of higher rates as recent U.S. economic data has only served to bolster the perception that the economy is strong enough to withstand them... That is good news.
The Fed Funds Futures are now pricing in a 68% probability that the Fed will raise rates at their December 15-16th meeting... For those of you keeping score, the S&P has rallied 12% from its August 24th low and is a mere 1.7% from its all-time high set in May... Will a Santa Claus Rally get us to new highs before year-end?? Yeah. We think so...