The Nasdaq Composite is set to close up for the 9th trading day in a row today.  Below is a look at historical winning streaks for the index since its inception back in 1971.

Start a two-week free trial to Bespoke’s research platform to see our full offering.

Below is a list of Nasdaq winning streaks of 9 days or longer throughout its history.  For each streak, we highlight how the index performed in the days and weeks following the end of the streak as well.

As you’ll see at the bottom of the table, the index has done slightly better than average in the week and month after these long winning streaks have ended.  So conventional wisdom that we might be due for a pause or pullback after a long winning streak does not really hold water.

The last winning streak of 9+ days for the Nasdaq came in February 2015 when it went up 10 trading days in a row.  Following the end to that streak, the index did pullback 2% over the next month, however.

Below is an updated look at the performance of the S&P 500 by day of the week so far this year.  For all trading days, the index has averaged a gain of 0.07% this year.  But as shown below, the trading week has seen back and forth action between green and red.  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays have all averaged gains, with Wednesday posting stronger gains than Monday, and Friday posting stronger gains than Wednesday.  In between, Tuesdays and Thursdays have both averaged slight declines.  Go figure.

Start a two-week free trial to Bespoke’s research platform to see our full offering.

The US residential housing sector received a nice boost this morning as both Housing Starts and Building Permits for the month of June came in better than expected.  That’s the first time both reports have exceeded estimates in the same month since the January report earlier this year.  For each report, the actual reported number was more than 50K ahead of expectations and both readings were a four-month high.  So, after a few months of declines, June’s numbers provided a nice respite from the lackadaisical numbers.

Start a two-week free trial to Bespoke’s research platform to see our full offering.

Taking a look at the internals of the report showed solid results.  For Housing Starts, the 8.3% m/m gain was driven by a 13.3% gain in multi-family units and a 6.3% gain in single-family starts.  For Building Permits, it was a similar picture as single-family permits increased 4.1%, while multi-family permits were up 13.9%.  It would have been preferable to see more of the gains coming from single-family units, but with both showing growth, we’ll take it.  On a regional basis, starts were strongest in the Northeast and Midwest, while permits showed the strongest m/m growth in the Midwest and West regions.

If there’s an economic indicator that gets released these days, taking the under usually ends up being the prudent bet.  Today’s release of homebuilder sentiment for the month of July from the NAHB on Tuesday was the latest example.  While economists were expecting the headline reading to come in at a level of 67, the actual reading was 64- the weakest reading since November.  After a four-month surge post-election, the last four months have seen homebuilder sentiment decline in three of the last four months.  Making matters worse, Tuesday’s reading was the weakest relative to expectations since May 2015.
Start a two-week free trial to Bespoke’s research platform to see our full offering.

The table below breaks down July’s report by Present and Future Sales, Traffic, and Regions.  There wasn’t much to get excited about in July as every category of the report declined.  On a regional basis, sentiment was more mixed with relatively large declines in the Midwest and South but actually increases in both the Northeast and West.  Finally, Tuesday’s NAHB sentiment reading comes ahead of Wednesday’s report on Housing Starts, which has been weaker than expected for three straight months and Building Permits, which has missed the mark each of the last two months.