We finished off the first full week of the fourth quarter with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite adding to their year-to-date gains. Despite some setbacks with a few of our holdings, the Pro Portfolio also added to its gains, keeping our year-to-date lead over the S&P 500 nicely intact.
Tracing the market’s week, the S&P 500 rose on both Monday and Tuesday, with Tuesday’s close marking its 28th record finish of the year. Strength in mega-cap tech, an upbeat investor day from Marvell (MRVL) and a round of deal news did the heavy lifting. That led the market to overlook another confirmation point in ISM’s September Service PMI data that inflation pressures, including energy and fuel prices, are translating into higher costs. The market would be reminded of that on Friday, when Delta Air Lines (DAL) cut its profit outlook for the year.