When the S&P hit a record high on November 22, then proceeded to fall over 5% in just over a week, a lot of pundits declared the market was dead. The S&P had simply risen too much for the year and fallen below key technical levels, and many felt it had seen its last high for the year. Yet here we are as the year comes to an end with the S&P closing at an all-time this past Friday.
As you can see in the chart above, every time the S&P pulled back throughout the year, traders were waiting to jump back in. And, in fact, at no point during the year was the S&P in danger of hitting its critical 200-day moving average, as traders gobbled up stocks in fear of missing out on any subsequent rallies.
With just a shortened trading week remaining in 2021, the S&P is up just over 25%. That compares to 16% for 2020. Any way you cut it, a tremendous year.
While the S&P is sitting at an all-time high, both the Dow and NASDAQ have been lagging. In fact, as you can see in the chart below, the NASDAQ is currently almost 3.5% below its November 22 high of 16,212, so there's some catching up to do over the next week.
Of course, traders are no longer interested in what happened during 2021; that's already old news. Instead, they are ready to turn their collective attention to 2022 and what might lie ahead. And this is something we will be addressing in great detail during our upcoming "MarketVision 2022" event on Saturday, January 8, when EarningsBeats Chief Market Strategist Tom Bowley and I will be joined by StockCharts.com's Bill Shelby, Grayson Roze and David Keller as they discuss what they see developing during 2022 and how to be positioned to take advantage of whatever takes place. Topics and timetables are being finalized, so if you would like to be kept up to date on this important event, just click here to sign up for our FREE EarningsBeats Digest and we will keep you posted.
I want to wish everyone the very best of the holiday season and look forward to a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2022!
At your service,
John Hopkins
EarningsBeats.com
