Bull market resumes as Dow eclipses in January

(Bloomberg) – The latest victim of the inflationary and commercial fears that rocked US equities at the beginning of the year has finally resumed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its seventh eight-day gain at a record high of 26,657 points, marking a seven-month slide back on one of the biggest problems in the bull market. Intel Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. led the final stage of the advance, up more than 2% on Thursday.

The balance sheet comes as investors get rid of the latest salvo of the commercial brawl between the Americans and the Chinese and that the US Treasury bonds have ended in 10 years. While the Dow Jones joins the rest of the main US benchmark indices to rebound after the tumult of the beginning of the year, the break should be encouraged as a sign that the recovery of shares of 9 and a half years widens.

"It provides confirmation that markets for the most part do not show the kind of divergence that would be real, long-term concern," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland. "The bull market is still in place and still has room for maneuver."

Dow's record-breaking 166-day series was the second-longest since the market surpassed the peak of the bull market in 2013.

The method used by the index to weight stocks by price rather than market capitalization probably contributed to its sensitivity to the trade war. Its largest component is Boeing Co., a stock that has largely served as a surrogate for investor sentiment regarding fares. A slowdown in the global economy outside the United States has also hurt, while the 122-year-old gauge is pioneering global growth like Caterpillar.

On the other hand, the Russell 2000 domestic market price rebounded after February's fall in May, due to the rising dollar and optimism in the US economy. At the height of the commercial anxiety, Dow's performance since the beginning of the year was some 12 points lower than the Russell 2000's. Since then, the gap has narrowed to 4 points .

This is a change from the last decade when the Dow has tended to dominate the market in general. In 2013, the 30-member tonnage ended a record-breaking 5 ½ year hiatus on March 4, three weeks before the S & P 500. In 2016, when stocks finally pulled out after two years of stagnation day like the S & P 500 did it.

Eight stocks have jumped more than 10% since the January Dow summit. Apple Inc., Nike Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have achieved the best performance with gains of at least 20%.

The Nasdaq Composite was the fastest of the major indices to recover, completing the feat in March. The S & P 500 did it last month while its upward run was the longest ever recorded.