NASDAQ Composite, S&P 500 Close at Record Highs

The NASDAQ Composite (^IXIC) and S&P 500 (^SPX) closed at record highs after a broad-based stock market rally on Tuesday.

The NASDAQ closed +105.56 (1.32%) at 8,120.82, above the August 31, 2018 closing high of 8109.64. The NASDAQ was +4.8% MTD after posting a stellar +16.5% gain in Q1. The rally in the NASDAQ has been fueled by renewed leadership from the FANG family of Social Media and Internet Commerce stocks.

The S&P 500, after closing above the 2900-threshold for six consecutive days, gained +24.82 (0.85%) to close at 2,932.79. The rally is making a serious challenge to the September 20, 2018 closing high of 2930.75. The S&P 500 posted a gain of +13% in Q1 and is +3.5% MTD in April with 5 full trading days left on the calendar.

Facebook (FB) gained +2.34 (1.29%) to close at $183.78. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), which closed at an all-time high on Monday, gained +1.68 (1.36%) to close at $125.44. Amazon (AMZN) closed at $1,923.77, or +36.46 (1.93%).

While both of these benchmark indices posting new highs would be cheered by investors — as well as provide a “breaking news” headline for the financial media — the Russell 2000 (^RUT) has yet to catch up to the larger cap and higher-profile market averages.

Even though the Russell gaining +24.97 (1.60%) to close at 1,585.02 is the best performing broad market average of the day, it remains at a 8% deficit to its all-time high of 1740.75 from August 31 of last year.

In the near term, it would be very positive to see the Russell trade through the 1600 level, from which failed convincingly to break through the 3rd week of February.