S&P 500’s Magic Run Ends

S&P 500’s Magic Run Ends

By Jonathan Cheng

The Streak is over.

It wasn’t exactly Joe DiMaggio, but the S&P 500’s seven-week winning had captured many an imagination on Wall Street. After all, according to Instinet, streaks this long have occurred only 32 other times going back to 1929 — seven years before Joltin’ Joe joined the Yankees.

The winning streak also attracted a lot of doubters, who warned that the gravity-defying uptick could only end in tears.

Well, not yet. The SPX finished the week down a relatively modest 0.77%, weighed down by some of last year’s highest-flying stocks, including a 9.7% drop at Salesforce.com and a 6.7% decline at engine-maker Cummins.

Among the bigger headline-grabbers, Bank of America lost 6.6%, Advanced Micro Devices shed 8.0% and even everyone’s favorite iMaker Apple slid 6.2%.

The good news: the Dow Jones Industrial Average is there to carry the torch forward, adding 0.72%. The diverging fortunes of the Dow and the SPX can be attributed to two Dow components that turned in stellar earnings-driven performances. General Electric’s 7.1% pop today helped Jeffrey Immelt’s conglomerate finish the week 4.9% higher, while IBM’s strong earnings gave it a 3.7% boost this week.

With the Dow at eight straight weeks in positive territory — and closing at yet another 30-month high — will it be the next to go? Tune in next week for more adventures on the stock markets!