S&P Finishes Strong

By JD Knapp 1-27-13  

Wall Street’s future is looking brighter thanks to a strong closing by the S&P 500.

The S&P 500 finished last week with its highest closing in more than five years. The Standard and Poor’s index ended on Friday at 1,502.96, a mere 62.19 from its all-time high in late 2007.

This strong showing by one of the major stocks on Wall Street could signify a positive turn in the economy. Once-weary investors could see this change in numbers as a chance to start investing heavily in companies again.

But the S&P is not the only index that fared well this past week. The Dow Jones industrial average also finished with its highest closing since October 2007, clocking in at 13,895.98.

The Dow can thank its successful week partly to Procter & Gamble. The household cleaning product producer rose 4 percent after a successful second-quarter with a raise in sales. The 4 percent leap was the largest of all of the companies in the Dow for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index ended at 3,149.71.

However, not all popular stocks saw great numbers on Friday. After a 2.4 percent drop, Apple is no longer the Unites States’ largest company by market capitalization, losing out to Exxon Mobile Corp.

All three of the major stocks saw rises this week; S&P up 1.1 percent, Nasdaq up 0.5 percent, and the Dow with 1.8 percent. These numbers represent the latest finish in a month of gains for the three indexes.

These winning streaks for Wall Street’s power players are sure to be on close watch by economists and investors alike for the upcoming year. Home sales reached their highest peak in 3 years back in 2012.  So the housing market is also going to be something to keep your eye on in 2013.