The stock market rose on Wednesday, as Fed Chair’s comments on falling inflation resulted in a rally. It seems that we will not go into recession.
Today, the central bank had its latest rate hike of 0.25%, which marked a further slowdown in rate increases. Investors hope that the Fed would ease off its aggressive tightening campaign.
Overall, S&P 500 grew 1.1% to 4,119, while NASDAQ increased 2.0% to 11,816.
Tweet of the Day
The bullish slingshot is here.
Thanks to a strong last day of the month, the S&P 500 gained more than 5% in January.
Remember, a >5% gain in Jan, on the heels of a red yr the yr before, tends to be bullish.
The full yr has finished higher 5 of 5 times, up close to 30% on avg. pic.twitter.com/j0NRGOv2aZ
— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) January 31, 2023
Chart of the Day
Our chart of the day is the one-year chart of UnitedHealth (UNH) as of January 31, 2023, when the stock was at $486.
UnitedHealth, the nation’s leading health insurer, is comprised of two main divisions, UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Between the two divisions, UnitedHealthcare is the larger of the two, but Optum is going to be a catalyst for this company in the coming years as organizations take preventative measures to keep employees healthy.
In the chart, note that profit growth is expected to simmer down in the upcoming quarters. This stock is acting weak just as profit growth is set to slow and faster growing growth stocks are back in favor.
Still, UNH is reasonable with a P/E of just 19. It is part of the Conservative Growth Portfolio and Growth Portfolio.
