Washington is in gridlock and the White House faces scrutiny. Valuations are at the highest levels since the financial crisis. There’s been straight months of outflows from the biggest exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500.
Traders shrugged it all off in another positive week for the U.S. equity market that ended with the benchmark gauge at a record — the 25th this year. The S&P 500 added 1.4 percent for the best week since May, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed for the sixth week in seven and the Nasdaq 100 posted the best advance of 2017.
The CBOE Volatility Index ended at 9.51, a 24-year low, falling 15 percent.
As corporate earnings start to trickle in, it’s time for U.S. corporations to show investors what they’re paying for. Expectations for profits, the cornerstone of many a bull case, are some of the loftiest in history by some measures.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the key components for this season: