The Standard & Poor’s 500 staggered higher on Thursday, gaining 1.15 percent over the past five trading days while closing higher four out of the past six days. Although this is not a significant gain for the number of days the S&P 500 has closed in the positive, it sheds light on investors’ upward bias or buy-the-dips mentality over the past week.
Should the bulls be able to maintain the same fortitude we’ve recently seen, they could win the current game of tug of war the bulls and bears appears to be in.
Lower-quality bonds took their cue from the stock market’s positive bias with the Barclays U.S. Convertible Bond Index gaining 1.76 percent over the past five trading days and the JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Global Index higher by 0.23 percent over the same time period.
Although convertible bonds outperformed the S&P 500 over the past week, they have underperformed over the past three months, with the Barclays U.S. Convertible Bond Index declining 0.66 percent.