Stock Market Closes Strong January

Major U.S. stock indexes and ETFs close January with a down day

U.S. stocks and ETFs posted a big January with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) gaining 5.8% for the month, along with the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) notching a 5% monthly gain.  Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) and the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) remain at overbought levels and need to move sideways to unwind overbought conditions.

The S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) closed just below the psychologically and technically important 1500 level, U.S. stocks declined Thursday after a report showed jobless claims rose, but benchmark indexes still produced one of Wall Street’s strongest starting months in years.

The gains in January bode well for the rest of the year as all of Stock Traders Almanac’s January Indicators, the Santa Rally, the first five days and the January barometer, all came in positive.  This has happened 27 times since since 1950 and was followed by yearly gains 25 times.

For the last day of month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) fell 0.33%, the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) slipped 0.25%, the Nasdaq 100 (NYSEARCA:QQQ) dropped 0.26% and the Russell 2000 (NYSEARCA:IWM) bucked the trend with a gain of 0.58%…