US Equity markets managed to eke out gains for the week ending February 17th, 2012.  Throughout the week, Greece moved closer to qualifying for bailout funds and positive US economic data reports gave investors confidence and pushed the indices higher.  The S&P 500 Index closed at 1361.23 on Friday, up 18.59 for the week and the Dow rose 148.64 over the week, to finish at 12,949.87.

Early in the week, the Greek Parliament approved the austerity measures that were required to receive bailout funds, but uncertainty remained as to whether or not the eurozone finance ministers will release the next tranche.  By mid-week, the eurozone finance ministers announced they would once again withhold Greek bailout funds until they are certain that Greece will continue to implement spending cuts, even after the elections in April.  On Friday, it became clearer that Greece is highly likely to …

The markets finished lower for the week, even though three of the five trading days closed positive.  The prospect of a Greek default through the week troubled markets.  The S&P 500 Index lost 2.26 points this week, to finish on Friday at 1,342.64 and the Dow finished at 12,801.23, down 61 points.  The broad indices still managed to hold on to their year to date gains with the S&P 500 Index up 6.76% and the Dow up 4.81%.  The NASDAQ Index has been very strong year to date, posting gains of 11.47% through Friday.  

On Monday, Greece agreed to additional austerity measures and cut 15,000 civil service jobs but failed to agree to a debt agreement with private creditors.  Progress on Tuesday boosted optimism.  A Reuters report revealed that Greece was preparing documentation to satisfy the requirements for the next installment of bailout funds.  However, …

Tuesday marked the end of the first month of 2012.  Although the markets closed down across the board on Monday and Tuesday, the S&P 500 Index posted a 4.3% gain for the month and the Dow gained 3.4%, marking the best January for both indices since January 1997.  It was also the best January for the NASDAQ since 2001, up 8.01%.  January’s gains came on the heels of strong performance in the 4th quarter of 2011.  Both domestic and international factors fueled the enthusiasm.  US economic data has been showing signs of improvement and while the distress in Europe is far from being resolved, EU leaders have been cooperating and making decisions to move in the right direction.

The ADP report on private sector payrolls showed a 170,000 increase in January but fell short of expectations of an 182,000 increase.  Despite the shortfall, the momentum …

The week between Christmas and New Year is traditionally a light volume week and this week was no exception.  Stocks finished the holiday-shortened week with slight losses on modest trading volume and no major news releases to shake things up.  The Eurozone crisis remained subdued and the US economic releases were encouraging.  For the year, the S&P 500 Index finished nearly flat, closing down 0.04 points from December 31st, 2010.  The DJIA rose 640.05 points and the NASDAQ, the worst performing of the three major indices, lost 47.72 points to finish at 2,605.15.    The US markets fared much better for the year than many of its global counterparts with the FTSE down 6.7%, the CAC 40 off 17.9% and the DAX fell 14.7% in 2011.

US equity markets closed fairly flat in light trading on Tuesday.  The markets were closed on Monday, December 26th, …