The S&P 500 (INDEXSP: .INX) closed up 1.1% yesterday (overnight Aussie time).
That saw the benchmark US index end the day at a new record closing high of 5,175.2 points. And it puts the index up a whopping 34.2% in 12 months.
It was only back in late January that the S&P 500 broke into all-time highs for the first time in almost two years.
But as we've witnessed with the series of recent record-breaking days on the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), stock market records are falling hard and fast in these early months of 2024. Though unlikely to break last Friday's all-time highs, the ASX 200 is up 0.2% in late morning trade today.
Although not quite breaking its own recent record highs, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) closed up 1.5%.
The Nasdaq's strong performance was helped by a 7.1% gain in the Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) share price. With shares up 300.2% in a year, the artificial intelligence company now has an eye-popping market cap of $US2.3 trillion (AU$3.5 trillion).
And all this on the day that US core inflation data came in hotter than expected.
S&P 500 dodges inflation scare
Investors sent the S&P 500 into new record territory despite February's core consumer price index (CPI) coming in slightly above consensus expectations.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs, was up 0.4% from January and up 3.8% over the past year.
That remains well above the US Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target range. But investors are still betting on a series of interest rate cuts in 2024 from the world's most influential central bank.
Commenting on the record-breaking run on the S&P 500, Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro said there could well be more gains ahead.
"We see markets as fundamentally supported and driven by the improving earnings cycle and coming interest rate cuts, with the Fed set to cut as early as June this year," he said.
Gilbert added:
Inevitable pullbacks should be seen as an opportunity as these twin pillars remain in place. The fear of investing at highs is misplaced, especially if fundamentals remain supportive, as we see now.
Regan Capital's Skyler Weinand also sounded a bullish note on the outlook for the S&P 500 (quoted by Bloomberg).
"It's proving difficult to see what may stop the market's momentum, as earnings, inflation, and interest rates are moving in the right direction," Weinand said.
Indeed, a bit of 'sticky' inflation data doesn't seem to have stopped the positive momentum for the S&P 500 in the least.
