The Dow Jumps 619 Points

The Dow rose 619 points today for its third-largest point gain in history. The other two came days apart in October 2008. In percentage terms, today’s 3.95% gain was the 131st largest since 1900.

The S&P 500 rose 72.90 points to close at 1940.51. That’s a gain of 3.90%. The S&P 500’s point gain today was greater than what the entire index was going for in January 1975.

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Today was very much a “high beta” day. Tech and energy stocks were the strongest. Growth also led value. Less than 30% of the stocks in the S&P 500 outperformed the S&P 500 today.

Bespoke Investment Group noted that the S&P 500 closed four standard deviations below its 50-day moving average for three straight sessions. That’s only happened twice since May 1940, when France fell to the Germans. Ironically, the S&P 500 closed today at 1,940.51.

Our Buy List gained 3.38% today which trailed the market, but our stocks are generally more conservative. Fiserv, Microsoft, Cognizant and Qualcomm all rose more than 5% today.

Today was a very good day, but the market is still very unsettled. You can expect more volatility. I don’t think we’ll be in the clear until the VIX closes below 20.

Posted by on August 26th, 2015 at 4:41 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.