Stocks gain a scorching 11% in quarter, but bulls aren’t running yet
When you open your quarterly financial statements in the next few weeks, you might be both pleased and puzzled.
Despite the economic doldrums, the stock market put together a sizzling 11 percent return over the past three months, including its best September since 1939. For a time yesterday, the Dow average appeared headed for 11,000.
But the gains are deceptive, market analysts say. While news about the economy has improved, there’s no reason to believe it’s roaring back. And the big advance was driven by a relatively small number of traders playing with a lot of money.
“I think a lot of this is just misguided optimism,’’ says Rob Arnott, chairman of Research Affiliates, an investment firm in Newport Beach, Calif. “The headwinds we face are pretty daunting.’’
In other words, few are calling it the beginning of the next bull market — not with unemployment still near 10 percent and stocks bound in what market technicians call a trading range.
September is usually the market’s worst month. This time, it was the third-best month of any kind in 10 years, narrowly trailing only March 2003 and April 2009, when stocks were bouncing back from meltdowns.
So why the rally? Economic news, while not great, was at least enough to dispel fears of a so-called double-dip recession. The Federal Reserve indicated it was closer to taking new action to help the economic recovery along.
And investors started looking past the November midterm elections and concluding that likely Republican pickups in Congress mean that tax increases are less likely.
The quarter got off to an inauspicious start. On the first day of July, stocks fell to what remains their low point of 2010: 1,011 for the S&P 500 index and 9,596 for the Dow in intraday trading. After rebounding to finish July up 7 percent, the market limped through August.
What first changed the tone of the market and started soothing double-dip worries was the Sept. 1 release of figures that showed surprisingly strong growth in the US and Chinese manufacturing sectors.
More news trickled in throughout September that, if not terrific, was at least not bad.
While the gains did a lot for millions of 401(k) accounts and other investment holdings, the rally was rather thin, and some market observers say that’s a sign it won’t last.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange has been unusually low for the past several weeks. And two important sectors, financial and health care stocks, have been lagging the others, showing signs of weakness that mirror the economy.
“In order for this rally to really steam higher, financials have to participate, and we really haven’t seen that yet,’’ says King Lip, chief investment officer for Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco.
