S&P 500 Comes Within 1% of 1,500

The stock market is holding on to some small gains this morning ahead of some major earnings announcements today. At one point, the S&P 500 got as high as 1,486.34. That’s just 1% away from 1,500.

On Friday, the $VIX plunged down to 12.26 during the day, though it’s back over 13 today. I’ve backed-tested the numbers and found that 13 is the magic number for the VIX; the stock market has performed much better below that number than above it.

One of our former Buy List stocks, Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), reported earnings above Wall Street’s consensus, but the company guided below analysts’ forecasts for the year. The Street had been expecting $5.49 per share but JNJ said EPS will range between $5.35 and $5.45 for 2013. As much as I like the company, I think shares of JNJ are a bit overpriced here.

Posted by on January 22nd, 2013 at 10:37 am


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