The market ended the week on a high note as both the the Dow and S&P 500 moved into positive territory for the year, marking the 5th straight week of gains. Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial told CNBC:
“Traders, investors are looking at a calm backdrop for markets. There’s nothing like buying begetting buying. I do think some of this has been short covering but I think more money is coming into the market and it looks like the Fed is going to try to be on hold for as long as possible.”
Also today came comments by former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. In a blog post for the Brookings Institution where Bernanke is a Distinguished Fellow in Residence with the Economic Studies Program said:
“Monetary policy in the United States and other developed countries “is reaching its limits,” but the Federal Reserve has not yet run out of responses to a potential slowdown. A balanced monetary-fiscal response would better boost the economy than monetary tools alone. I assess the probability that this tool will be used in the U.S. as quite low for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, it would probably be worthwhile for the Fed to conduct further analysis of this option.”
Bernanke assessed policy options for the Fed, saying negative interest rates hold “modest benefits” but are unlikely.
See more from CNBC below.
Here are the final numbers from Friday, 3/18/16 on Wall Street
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,602.30 (+120.81/ +0.69 %)
NASDAQ: 4,795.65 (+20.66/ +0.43 %)
S&P 500: 2,049.56 (+8.97/ +0.44 %)
