Economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An International Monetary Fund team is currently in Cairo to discuss Egypt’s $3 billion IMF loan and reform program, an IMF spokesperson said on Friday amid discussions about additional funding to ease the country’s Gaza war-related stresses.The spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters that the team, led by IMF Egypt Mission Chief Vladkova Hollar, would “continue discussions on the first and second reviews of Egypt’s reform program supported by the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility. We will communicate at the end of the visit.”The IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia director, Jihad Azour, also was in Cairo earlier this week on an annual retreat with the division’s regional offices, and met with Egyptian authorities and regional stakeholders, the spokesperson added.Egypt has been hit hard by Israel’s war against Hamas in neighboring Gaza, which has hurt tourism bookings and natural gas imports and prompted attacks on Red Sea shipping.IMF chief spokesperson Julie Kozack told reporters last week that additional financing was “critical” to the success of the Egypt program, but amounts and potential disbursements were under discussion. Also under discussion was the need for tighter fiscal and monetary policy. More

The debt forgiveness is particularly beneficial for public servants including teachers and nurses with ten years’ tenure, addressing long-term repayment challenges faced by these individuals. As part of revisions to the income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs, nearly 30,000 individuals will benefit from loan cancellations due to servicers’ failures in tracking payments correctly. In addition to this, the administration has enhanced the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan earlier this week. This plan expedites debt forgiveness for those consistently paying off initial loans up to $12,000 for over a decade, providing further relief for borrowers.This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. More

“We have to calibrate very carefully to ensure that we continue to bring inflation down and we ensure that we do it gently, as gently as we possibly can” Daly said at the San Diego County Economic Roundtable. “We know that policy is in a good place, the economy is in a good place, and we can start to be more patient to see what we need, as a Fed, to do next…It takes patience. It takes gradualism.”The words calibration, patience and gradualism suggested Daly believes Fed rate cuts will arrive but are not imminent. Unlike last year, when the focus was on fighting inflation, Daly said this year there is more need for attention to the Fed’s other mandate, of achieving maximum employment. “The risks to the economy are balanced, and the risks to both sides of our mandate are balanced,” she said. Early Friday Daly said it would be “premature” to think interest-rate cuts are around the corner. Inflation has come down from its 2022 peak but is still too high, she said, noting the December reading on core consumer price inflation, of 3.9%. “There is a lot of work to do. There is no denying it,” she said. The Fed targets 2% inflation, though by a different yardstick than Daly cited. By that measure, the personal expenditures price index, year-over-year inflation measured 2.6% in November, the latest reading available. Other policymakers speaking recently, notably Fed Governor Christopher Waller this week, have sounded more optimistic on inflation’s trajectory.Daly is likely the last Fed policymaker to speak publicly ahead of the Fed’s Jan 30-31 policy meeting, due to an agreed-upon quiet period running up to each meeting. More

A month ago, the S&P 500 seemed to be heading towards an all-time high in a broad-based rally that had raised hopes for further gains this year. But on Friday afternoon, when the index finally cleared the bar, it was being carried by just a few large tech stocks as markets more broadly struggle for direction.The S&P closed at 4,839.81, eclipsing its previous high from January 2022, a milestone that reflects the widespread belief that the Federal Reserve is on track to successfully bring inflation under control without causing a major recession, executing a so-called soft landing.But the enthusiasm that drove a rally of almost 16 per cent in the last two months of 2023 has ebbed in the new year. The main Wall Street benchmark has taken three weeks to add another 1.5 per cent, as recent economic data reignited the debate over how soon central banks will start cutting interest rates.The shaky final stretch to Friday’s record highlights how further gains will rely on the Fed continuing to walk a delicate tightrope. “That soft landing is a thread-the-needle event that is not easy to do, and that’s why we have very few throughout history,” said Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at Fidelity, the asset manager. “There are ways that this perfect goldilocks scenario could be upended.”New economic data had already “taken a bit of the wind out of the sails” of the market, said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “I think the environment is relatively good for stocks but don’t expect a big rally this year.” A record high for the S&P, he added, was “less meaningful because the momentum that carried us over the finish line [was] weaker”. The tech-concentrated Nasdaq Composite remains below its previous record close. Most investors say they have not changed their longer-term assumptions of falling interest rates and decent corporate earnings growth, but the new economic figures have been enough to put the brakes on the rally after exuberance got out of hand in the final months of 2023.“The end-of-the-year rally was a sugar rush,” said Russ Koesterich, global head of investment strategy at BlackRock. “The market had gotten ahead of itself a bit at the end of the year, but the economic data has been resilient and the Fed has talked down some expectations of rate cuts.”The fourth-quarter rally was driven by optimism that the Fed and its counterparts in Europe were on track to bring inflation back to target levels and could start cutting interest rates as soon as March.The Fed helped to fuel the optimism last month, with a survey showing officials expected interest rates to be cut three times in the coming year. But recent data has provided a reminder that inflationary pressures remain — prices rose faster than expectations in December. Jobs growth and retail sales figures this month were both stronger than expected, reducing the pressure on the Fed to cut rates to protect economic growth.Fed governor Christopher Waller emphasised this point on Tuesday, saying that although the central bank is within “striking distance” of its 2 per cent inflation target, officials would take their time before lowering borrowing costs.Investors have scaled back bets on an early rate cut, with futures markets now pricing in a roughly 48 per cent chance that the Fed pulls the trigger by March. In December futures traders anticipated a 90 per cent chance of a March cut. But there is still a strong consensus that the Fed will cut rates substantially this year and the US will avoid a severe recession. Only 17 per cent of investors surveyed by Bank of America this week thought the country would endure a “hard landing”, and only 3 per cent thought borrowing costs would be higher in 12 months’ time.The yield on the two-year Treasury note, which is particularly sensitive to interest rate expectations, climbed after the latest US inflation data but is still just 0.13 percentage points above where it ended last year. Higher yields reflect lower prices.Brett Nelson, head of tactical allocation for Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management, said it would have been unsustainable for the market rally to continue at the same pace after the S&P 500 ended 2023 with nine consecutive weeks of gains. Its near-16 per cent increase over the period put its performance in the 99th percentile of returns over comparable periods, he said.Nelson added that in the short run, some “indigestion” could lead to the market trading sideways or pulling back. But over the year further gains were likely as “fundamental factors will ultimately prevail”.The shift in tone has been more pronounced in Europe, however. The continent-wide Stoxx Europe 600 stock index has fallen 2 per cent this month, and investors have scaled back their rate cut expectations further than in the US.Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, said the distinction reflected more severe inflation problems in the UK, and more vocal intervention by central bankers in the eurozone. Senior policymakers have talked down the chances of imminent rate cuts over the past week, including ECB president Christine Lagarde, Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel and Austrian central bank chief Robert Holzmann.Geopolitical tensions have also added to the more cautious mood on both sides of the Atlantic. Attacks by Yemen-based Houthis on vessels transiting the Red Sea have heightened fears that the war between Israel and Hamas will escalate into a region-wide conflict, as well as feeding inflationary pressures by raising shipping costs.“One of the fears that has been ever present [since the Israel-Hamas conflict began] was that this conflict would escalate and broaden,” Temple said. “I think geopolitics is going to be harder to ignore.”Like many other investors, however, Temple said he still expected markets to make decent, if unspectacular, gains through the rest of the year.JPMorgan’s Kelly said: “When you’re so used to doing very well, when the market goes nowhere it feels like a let-down. I think what we’re really seeing is markets taking a bit of a breather.” More

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Hopes for lower interest rates and resilient growth in 2024 took the S&P 500 stock index to a record high on Friday, after two roller-coaster years featuring soaring inflation, tumult in the banking industry and economic unease.The benchmark index ended on Friday at 4,839.81, which was above its prior closing high of 4,796.56 set on Jan 3, 2022. During the session it also set a record intraday high of 4,842.07. The new closing record confirmed that the S&P 500 has been in a bull market since October 2022, by one widely used definition.Stocks began wobbling in early 2022 on worries that surging consumer prices inflation would force the Fed to raise interest rates. The central bank’s monetary tightening cycle turned out to be its most aggressive in decades, boosting Treasury yields to 16-year highs and battering stocks. The index slumped as much as 25% from its peak, hitting its bottom for the cycle in October of 2022. A sharp rally came in the latter months of 2023, as evidence that inflation was decisively cooling and a dovish message from the Fed helped drive stocks higher. The S&P 500 ended 2023 with a 24% increase, and has moved modestly higher in a bumpy start to 2024.Surging shares of big technology companies and optimism over artificial intelligence – factors that have driven stocks higher for the past year – powered gains once more on Friday.The interplay between stocks and Treasury yields has been a key driver of market moves over the last two years. Yields soared as the Fed began hiking interest rates to fight inflation and eventually hit a 16-year high in October 2023 as fiscal worries also exacerbated a selloff in U.S. government bonds. Yields, which rise when bond prices fall, create investment competition to stocks while raising the cost of borrowing for companies and consumers. Expectations for rate cuts in 2024 have pulled yields lower in recent months, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield recently at around 4.2% after breaching 5% in October. In recent weeks, however, yields have been creeping back up as investors recalibrate bets on how aggressively the Fed might move in the months ahead.Another key factor powering stocks is the expectation that the Fed’s tighter monetary policy will be able to bring down inflation without badly hurting growth – the so-called soft landing scenario. So far, the U.S. economy has proven resilient, with recent reports showing strength in areas such as retail sales and consumer sentiment. Other measures, including the producer price index, have suggested a cooling trend. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index, which measures how economic data performs versus expectations, turned negative in early 2024 for the first time since May.”The Fed has a solid chance of bringing inflation back to target without triggering recession,” Seema Shah, chief global strategist of Principal Asset Management, said in a recent commentary. “Make no mistake, it will still be a challenging policy landing.”Seven massive stocks drove the S&P 500’s gain last year, thanks to their outsized weighting in the index.Shares of the so-called Magnificent Seven — Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) — surged between about 50% and 240% last year. Collectively, they account for about 28% of the S&P 500, and were responsible for nearly two-thirds of the index’s total return last year.Investors in BofA Global Research’s latest fund manager survey named owning the Magnificent Seven as the market’s most “crowded” trade for the tenth straight month. Others said the sizeable rallies in these stocks have left them expensive compared to the rest of the market: the seven were trading this week trade at an average of about 33 times expected earnings, compared to 19.6 for the overall S&P 500.”Even after the market-wide rally in December, market concentration in a handful of mega caps — firms with ultra-large market capitalizations — remains high,” BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) strategists said in a recent note.Valuations may be an obstacle for the broader market as well. The S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings ratio is now hovering near 20 times and is well above its historical average of 15.6 times, according to LSEG Datastream.”While the bar was low last year for positive earnings surprises and market returns, it’s now a high bar this year given this starting valuation,” Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Mutual Wealth Management Company, said in a commentary earlier this month. More

LONDON (Reuters) – The United States and other top powers need to use their influence with Israel to end the ongoing “carnage” in Gaza, Jordan’s Prime Minister, Bisher al Khasawaneh, said on Friday. Jordan, which shares a border with the occupied West Bank, has been highly critical of Israel’s bombardments of Gaza with Khasawaneh saying on Friday that they “ticked all the boxes of war crimes against humanity.”Israel has denied allegations that it has committed war crimes.Khasawaneh said heavyweight international diplomacy and influence was needed to secure a ceasefire.”Leadership is needed from our American friends and our American partners, and from various capitals in the world, that can influence the decision making process in Israel in genuine terms to bring this carnage to an end,” the Jordanian prime minister said at an event at the London School of Economics.He added that public opinion in the West was clear in its concerns about the violence and the pressure the international rules-based system was being put under around issues such as providing aid to the devastated parts Gaza.”The main powers are under not only just a morale responsibility but also an obligation in the context of preserving the rules-based international system to come and tell the current Israeli government that this needs to stop,” he said. The hope was that then things could “move into a mode that fundamentally resolves this vicious cycle of violence and killing,” said Khasawaneh, who had been met with loud protests as he arrived at the event from LSE students and Arab diaspora.Israel and its biggest backer the United States appear at odds now, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition government largely rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state even though Washington maintains that the two-state solution is the only feasible way to bring lasting peace to the region.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his fourth trip to the Middle East last week since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, took a rough agreement to Israel that its predominately Muslim neighbours would help rehabilitate Gaza after the war and continue economic integration with Israel, but only if it committed to eventually allowing the creation of an independent Palestinian state.The latest episode of hostilities in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict started when Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Israel says more than 130 remain in captivity.Israel responded to Hamas’ assault with a siege, bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza that have devastated the tiny coastal territory and killed more than 24,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.U.S.-brokered talks on a Palestinian state in territory now occupied by Israel collapsed almost a decade ago. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Falling inflation and expectations of an economic soft landing are buoying hopes for U.S. real estate stocks in 2024, even as the sector continues to lag the broader market.Real estate investment trusts (REITs) were among the worst performing sectors over the last year, with share prices weighed down by factors ranging from high interest rates to tepid demand for office space in an era of remote work. The Real Estate sector of the S&P 500 fell 3.4% in 2023, while the broad S&P 500 index soared more than 24% last year and hit a record high on Friday. Real estate’s pain has continued into 2024, pushing the sector down 3.4% in January against a 1.4% gain for the S&P 500. Yet some investors are growing more confident the trend will reverse – especially if the Fed cuts rates as aggressively as many investors expect. REITs benefit from lower rates which reduce the cost of capital and fuel revenue growth. “REITs were crushed by the fastest rate hiking cycle in 40 years, and are going to move in line with expectations of rate cuts,” said Justin McAuliffe, a research analyst at Gabelli Funds who remains bullish on REITs such as American Tower (NYSE:AMT). Investors have been wading back into the sector. Global fund managers increased their exposure to REITs by 15 percentage points in December, pushing allocations to 12-month highs, according to the latest survey from BofA Global Research. At the same time, the Schwab U.S. REIT ETF – the largest US REIT-focused exchange traded fund- saw approximately $35 million in net inflows over the last week, its largest since October, according to data from analytics firm VettiFi. Historically, the end of a Fed hiking cycle has been supportive for REITs. Since 1995, public REITs have gained 20.1% in the year following the last rate increase of a cycle, according to data from CenterSquare Investment Management. The S&P 500, meanwhile, gained an average of 10% in the 12 months after the Fed finished the last hike of a cycle since 1980, according to data from Putnam Investments. “If central banks have truly turned more dovish, the setup for REITs is favorable,” CenterSquare wrote in its 2024 outlook. Of course, the sector’s sensitivity to interest rate expectations can cut both ways: while real estate stocks rallied along with the rest of the market in 2023 on expectations that the Fed would pivot to rate cuts this year, they have been hit this month as some investors recalibrated bets on how aggressively the Fed might ease. Jeff Doerfler, director of investment management at Huntington Private Bank, said the declines make some of the stocks in the sector, such as warehouse owner Prologis (NYSE:PLD), more attractive over the long term. “We’re at the start of a cycle where lower cost of capital will drive revenue growth and you’ll get an increasing amount of M&A,” said Doerfler, who is overweight REITs overall.A taste of merger & acquisition activity came Friday, when investment management company Blackstone (NYSE:BX) announced that it acquired Canadian real estate firm Tricon Residential for $3.5 billion, an approximately 30% premium to its most recent closing price. Investors will get readings on the pace of inflation and the economy next week with manufacturing PMI data released on Thursday and personal consumption expenditures data released on Friday, in addition to earnings from 3M, United Airlines and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT).Many REITs do not report earnings until later in the quarter, with retail-focused company Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) scheduled to report its quarterly results Feb. 5 and American Tower scheduled for Feb 21. Prologis missed analyst estimates when it reported results Jan. 17 and cited weakness in freight demand. Of course, plenty of obstacles remain for the sector – chief among them an oversupply of office space that is unlikely to be absorbed anytime soon.The shift to hybrid work policies will likely erase $800 billion from the value of office buildings in major ciites worldwide by 2030, consulting firm McKinsey said in July. Chris Miller, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, remains bullish on the sector overall but says stocks may need to climb “a wall of worry” over the course of the year.Still, “we think will see a stabilization of interest rate volatility and that gives us optimism going into 2024,” he said. More

(Reuters) – The S&P 500 posted a record high close on Friday for the first time in two years, fueled by a rally in chipmakers and other heavyweight technology stocks on optimism around artificial intelligence.The milestone confirmed that the benchmark index has been in a bull market since it closed at its low on Oct. 12, 2022, according to one measure, which also puts that date as the end of a bear market. According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 58.02 points, or 1.21%, to end the day at 4,838.96 points.The index lost nearly 25% in a selloff between its previous record close of 4,796.56 on Jan. 3, 2022 and its low in October 2022. COMMENTS:RICK MECKLER, PARTNER, CHERRY LANE INVESTMENTS, NEW VERNON, NEW JERSEY    “The main feeling I have is technology stocks continue to power the market to levels that seem to just generate even more interest. It’s not like going higher causes people to take profits. Going higher causes people to want to get greater involvement.    “Normally this time of year you have new inflows both from 401ks and other retirement accounts, and you often have new commitment to capital to start the year. The elements were there for the market to make a new high, continuing off last year’s run.    “The only negative is the interest rate environment, and investors remain convinced we’re not long for rate cuts even though there hasn’t been a meaningful drop-off in inflation that suggests rate cuts are imminent.”SAMEER SAMANA, SENIOR GLOBAL MARKET STRATEGIST, WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT INSTITUTE, CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA“The question now is what comes next.  Unfortunately, much of the recent move to round-trip to the all-time highs has come as a result of the markets expecting a combination of aggressive rate cuts, a still-strong economy, low inflation, and easy financial and credit conditions; those factors don’t happen together all that often.  We believe the market’s disappointment upon realizing that its investment case is built on hope, rather than reality will lead markets to test important support levels.  “Currently, we believe the S&P 500 Index sits close to resistance, and has pulled forward typically favorable spring seasonality.  From here, a pullback toward key support levels seems likely.   “In the meantime, investors should stay disciplined and defensively positioned.”STEVE SOSNICK, CHIEF STRATEGIST, INTERACTIVE BROKERS, CONNECTICUT“This new record level of the S&P 500 is sustainable as long as earnings meet expectations in the coming weeks. The rationale is that companies can deliver on their earnings if the economy is solid. If, on the other hand, we find out that the market has either gotten ahead of itself about earnings expectations, or we get guidance from some of these companies that doesn’t match the bullish sentiment that’s being priced into them, that can be a real risk”“I think the more important thing right now is earnings because the market is telling us in the last couple of days that they’re focused more on companies’ ability to meet or exceed earnings expectations than they are about being bailed out by Federal Reserve rate cuts.”JOHN LYNCH, CHIEF INVESTMENT STRATEGIST, COMERICA WEALTH MANAGEMENT, CHARLOTTE, NC (emailed note)“Liquidity is a powerful force. “Despite the Fed’s attempt to quell demand by raising rates and draining its balance sheet, the money supply as measured by M2 remains ~30.0% greater than it was before the pandemic.  This provides a tailwind for the financial markets, enabling equities to sustain momentum from the fourth quarter’s rally. “We suspect concerns over the prospects for a “double-top” to ensue, yet we look for the combination of expanded liquidity, 8.0% earnings growth, and declining inflation-adjusted or ‘real’ interest rates to support higher market multiples as the year progresses. “We continue to believe the S&P 500 would be fairly valued in the 5,200 range by yearend.”CAROL SCHLEIF, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, BMO FAMILY OFFICE, MINNEAPOLIS, MN“Records are made to be broken and the broadening of market action in the past few months is reassuring.  The resiliency of the U.S. economy in general, and most businesses in particular, has been notable. It’s reflected in continued progress in corporate earnings as companies hone their business models.”“Our full year expectation is for continued upward progress in stocks as Fed increases cease (and cuts commence), the labor market comes into better balance, inflation moderates, the trillions in fiscal stimulus for infrastructure and new techs continues to be deployed and consumers remain constructive.”RHYS WILLIAMS, CHIEF STRATEGIST, SPROUTING ROCK ASSET MANAGEMENT, BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA    “The fact is the market has really been narrow so far in January. It’s not like the whole market is in some sort of ebullient fervor. It’s been very specific to AI-related technology stocks.     “I’m not so worried about the overall market, because it’s not like the whole market is indicating some sort of giant rush the way it was in November and December when everything was working.”  TOM GRAFF, HEAD OF INVESTMENTS AT FACET, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND”Stocks have bounced around a bit this year based on consternation over the Fed. But what we’re seeing is that earning potential is really what’s paramount. That’s why things like TSM strong outlook are trumping questions about Fed rate cuts.”BRIAN MULBERRY, CLIENT PORTFOLIO MANAGER, ZACKS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, CHICAGO“There is still a significant amount of momentum in the S&P 500 valuation right now even though the March rate cut expectations have moved measurably lower, the May probability factor is still at 90%+.  It would technically still be possible to meet the market’s current pricing of six rate cuts if the Fed skips March, that is giving some durability to the current valuation…If the Fed continues to keep rates unchanged through May then we must see assets repriced in a ‘higher for longer’ rate environment.“Recent comments from FOMC members remain consistent in that no members (especially voting members) have said clearly that rates will be moved lower in March, in fact the most recent data is showing an uptick in economic activity that could spur an uptick in inflation – this seems the more likely case than a capitulation in prices which is what would be needed to see rates fall in just 10 weeks’ time.” DAVID WAGNER, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, APTUS CAPITAL ADVISORS, CINCINNATI, OHIO“All of the economic data has remained strong and many people assume that to be bad for the market, as it decreases the chance of a Fed rate cut. But if we take a step back, good economic data should be great for the market, especially when many investors feel that valuation is stretched.”THOMAS HAYES, CHAIRMAN, GREAT HILL CAPITAL, NEW YORK“Everyone was looking for a big correction after the strong end of year. People still don’t believe the rally that started in October 2022 and now we are breaking out to new highs. We just need to convert all the holdout perma-bears over the next few weeks and then we’ll get the pullback when no one expects it.”ANTHONY SAGLIMBENE, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL, TROY, MICHIGAN“Stocks continue to demonstrate their resiliency despite a muted start to the year.“This week’s gains across Big Tech, which is helping push the broader indexes toward record highs, demonstrates investors are unwilling to abandon last year’s winners. And despite a modest uptick in government bond yields this month, stocks continue to discount a soft landing for the U.S. economy in 2024.”CYRUS AMINI, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, HELIUM ADVISORS, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA “The S&P500 spent most of 2023 defying pundits and investors alike to put in some spectacular results. The overall index performance was almost entirely driven by the newly christened “Magnificent Seven”, which now accounts for roughly 30% of the index. That type of concentration has only been seen in the dot-com bubble. Once you include the lower probability of rate cuts due to a weakening labor market and inflation leveling out, we have a market that looks overbought and overdue for valuations to move back in line with earnings. We don’t see a massive drawdown as likely, but equities have to return to reality sooner rather than later.”LISA ERICKSON, HEAD OF PUBLIC MARKETS, U.S. BANK WEALTH MANAGEMENT, MINNEAPOLIS    “It really is an encouraging day in terms of the action, and 4,800 certainly has been a key level which has been difficult to surmount. So if we continue to move in this direction, that’s going to be a very positive sentiment sign.” More