Monday, stocks rose 0.5% in Asia. In Europe, stocks changed little, but in the U.S., stocks shot up 0.9% on low moderate volume. The excuse for the ramp was hope for more, rather than less, accommodation from the Fed based on a Yellen speech . This brought the VXO down nearly 7% to close at 12.55.
Tuesday, stocks rose in Asia 0.5%, in Europe 0.6%, and in U.S. 0.5% to eek out another S&P 500 Index marginal record high on low volume. Here’s one explanation for the ramp. The VXO plunged another 7.6% to end the day at the unsustainable 11.60 level. Wednesday, stocks in Asia rose 0.4%. In Europe, they rose just slightly. In the U.S., stocks gained 0.3% on low volume, but that was enough for another incremental all-time high on the S&P 500 Index. Thursday, stocks in Asia rose slightly while in Europe they were almost unchanged. In the U.S., stocks fell slightly on low volume, while the VXO climbed over 6% to close at the still fearless 12.73 level.
Friday, stocks in Asia moved little. In Europe, they rose 0.6%, but in the U.S. they fell sharply — dropping 0.8% on low volume after the S&P 500 hit an intraday all-time high. The VXO rose over 5% to close at The NASDAQ plummeted 2.6% as high-flying garbage stocks fell out of favor. Here’s another indicator that stocks are overvalued.. Gold clawed its way back above the 1300 mark.
Despite this fall, the S&P 500 Index still closed the week just slightly higher for the week.