Stock Market Today: The Bear Is Dead; Long Live the Bull!
A small gain Tuesday was all the S&P 500 needed to surpass its Feb. 19 highs and confirm a new bull market.


It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't by much, but the S&P 500 officially exited bear territory on Tuesday and greeted a new bull market.
Stocks were helped out by U.S. housing starts, which jumped 22.6% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just under 1.5 million.
Blerina Uruçi and Pooja Sriram of Barclays Investment Bank say three major factors are behind the recent pace: a return of pent-up demand, historically low mortgage interest rates and a shift as households move to the suburbs, but "pent-up demand is not likely to be sustained so we would not expect to see double-digit increases in starts on a sustained basis in the coming months."
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Be a smarter, better informed investor.

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
"However," they say, "the direction of travel is upward in our view and we expect low mortgage rates and demand for suburban homes to continue pushing starts gradually higher in the coming months."
The earnings calendar, heavy on retailers this week, also spoke a little to the strength of the U.S. consumer.
Home Depot (HD, -1.2%), among 2020's hot housing market stocks, saw its most recent quarterly sales and profits surge 23% and 25%, respectively, to beat analyst estimates. Meanwhile, Walmart (WMT, -0.8%) reported that e-commerce traffic nearly doubled-year-over year and posted its biggest earnings surprise in more than three decades. But both stocks had little to show for it.
Instead, the market's strength yet again came from mega-cap tech and tech-adjacent names.
Amazon.com (AMZN, +4.1%) jumped after announcing it would hire 3,500 tech and corporate jobs in six cities, and spend $1.4 billion expanding its offices. Netflix (NFLX, +4.8%) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, +2.6%) also made significant gains to push the Nasdaq Composite 0.7% higher to 11,210, yet another all-time high finish. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2% to 27,778, and the small-cap Russell 2000 lost 1.0% to finish at 1,569.
The "broader market," however, finally got over the hump. The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 3,389, surpassing its Feb. 19 all-time highs by a mere 3 points. That confirms a bull market for U.S. stocks that officially began off the March 23, 2020 bottom.
What's Next for the New Bull Market?
Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist of U.S. Equity Strategy at CFRA, points out that "like the messenger from Marathon, bull markets typically (slump) from exhaustion an average of 2.5 months after reaching such a recovery milestone." However, the average declines have been modest, at 8%, before stocks resume their advances.
Even if that comes to pass, there's reason to believe a resulting climb would have fundamental help.
"Estimates for future quarters have tended to fall as earnings were being reported in previous seasons," says Jeffrey Buchbinder, Equity Strategist at LPL Financial. "This quarter was a different story, with a 1.4% increase in the next 12 months' S&P 500 earnings estimates since the second quarter ended, reflecting upbeat guidance from Corporate America.
"While that may not seem like much, and we still may not see positive earnings growth until early 2021, this encouraging development increases the chances that estimates for the third and fourth quarters may prove to be too low."
In the short term, look for potential dips in areas such as e-commerce stocks and artificial intelligence companies – these red-hot picks might be due for profit-taking should the market take a breather, allowing new investors to jump in and harness their longer-term potential.
But Wall Street's pros think several hot hands in 2020 still have more room to run. Here, we look at seven stocks that are already up anywhere between 24% and 260% year-to-date, but that the analyst community believes haven't quite reached their ceiling.
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
Is Trump's Tax Plan Speeding Up the Looming Social Security Funding Crisis?
Social Security Social Security's combined retirement funds are running out of cash, and its insolvency date is expected to occur in less than a decade.
-
How to Keep Your Work Friends After You Retire
Work friendships can boost teamwork, lift your spirits, and make the job more fun. But when you retire, these friendships can fade. Here's a look at why that happens and what you can do about it.
-
Stocks Edge Higher With Nvidia, Fed in Focus: Stock Market Today
The AI bellwether reports earnings after today's close, while Wall Street is keeping a cautious eye on President Trump's attacks against the Fed.
-
Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda: Are These 5 Stocks Too Overvalued to Buy Now?
Investors worried about missing the boat on overvalued stocks need not fret. These five names, while expensive, are still seeing lots of love from analysts.
-
President Trump Makes Markets Move Again: Stock Market Today
The White House is moving ahead with plans to reshape the Federal Reserve and to buy shares in more sectors and stocks.
-
Stocks Struggle to Start Nvidia Week: Stock Market Today
Another important week for the stock market starts on a risk-off note.
-
Dow Rips 846 Points to New All-Time High: Stock Market Today
Fed Chair Jerome Powell seems ready to cut interest rates in the fall but will still rely on incoming economic data about inflation and employment.
-
S&P 500 Extends Losing Streak Ahead of Powell Speech: Stock Market Today
Stocks continued to struggle ahead of Fed Chair Powell's Friday morning speech at Jackson Hole.
-
Tech Sells Off While Trump Stirs the Fed: Stock Market Today
We've reached another important part of earnings season, though markets remain captivated by the president, the Fed, and interest rate policy.
-
Dow Retreats From a Record High: Stock Market Today
Quietly rising since April, Home Depot stock was conspicuously constructive Tuesday as high-profile tech names dragged equity indexes down.