‘Bull market’ heats up again as yearly advance hits 22%

Bloomberg

It’s old, but it’s not slowing down.
A bull market that traces its lineage to the depths of the financial crisis is revving up again, notching its fourth straight weekly gain and pushing its advance in 2019 past 22%.
After wavering at mid-year amid a US-China trade war and recession anxieties, American stocks are back in melt-up mode, ending three of the past five sessions at records.
While nobody knows if it’s getting late for this decade-old rally, gains like these have been common at the tail end of bull markets past. A study by Bank of America Corp on equity peaks since 1937 shows that being uninvested in the last year of an advance meant foregoing one-fifth of the rally’s overall return.
The S&P 500 powered to a fresh high after an unexpectedly strong hiring report offered hope that the labor market can propel consumer spending and extend the record-long expansion despite weak business investment and trade tensions.
Stocks got a brief boost and the dollar pared losses after China’s Ministry of Commerce said trade negotiators had achieved a “consensus in principle” with the US.
The latest economic data come after the Fed lowered rates and signalled it is unlikely to make further changes, up or down, any time soon. That sent stocks to a record, before a batch of weak economic data and renewed worries over trade weighed on the measure.
The S&P 500 is up 1.5% in the week. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida reiterated in Bloomberg Radio interview that monetary policy is “in a good place” and the consumer is strong.
The jobs report “reinforces the thesis that the economy is hanging in there with steady growth thanks to the consumer, jobs, low rates, strong housing and that the global picture is weak,” said Alec Young, managing director of Global Markets Research at FTSE Russell.