Stock Market Barometers

Fundamental and technical indicators of the market’s health

Key indexes vs. their 200-day moving averages:

A stock index’s 200-day moving average indicates the basic trend, up or down. It is generally bullish if the index stays above the average.

S&P; 500 (blue-chip stocks), Friday: 973.90

200-day moving average: 1,060.97

*

Russell 2,000 Index (smaller stocks), Tuesday: 347.07

200-day moving average: 444.44

*

Price-to-earnings ratio of Standard & Poor’s 500: 21.45*

Based on operating earnings per share, 12 months ended March 31; average since 1923: 13.5

*

Dividend yield of the Standard & Poor’s 500: 1.66%

Average dividend yield of blue-chip stocks; avg. since 1923: 4.5%

*

Weekly new highs vs. new lows on the NYSE: 51/1,607

Data for the week ended Friday. More highs indicate a bullish trend.

Investment newsletter sentiment:

Stocks’ near-term trend as predicted by 135 independent investment newsletters, weekly survey by Investors Intelligence. The data are often viewed as a contrarian indicator: A rising percentage of bulls can signal a topping market.

*Now calculated based on operating earnings, which exclude one-time charges-so P/E is lower than if actual earnings were used.

Aug. 28

Bullish: 40.4%

Bearish: 38.6

Correction: 21.0

*

Friday

Bullish: 40.7%

Bearish: 43.2

Correction: 16.1

Source: A.G. Edwards & Sons. More information can be found at

https://www.agedwards.com on the World Wide Web.