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S&P 500 Forecast & Analysis: Markets in a celebratory mood

Dear traders, dear stock market friends.

Last week, the inauguration of Donald Trump and the new US administration was the focus of attention. Wall Street also followed the developments with excitement. As soon as he was sworn in, the new US president got straight to work and made numerous headlines. With a flood of executive orders, Trump began to implement his election promises at breakneck speed.

Trump's economic policy: optimism prevails

Trump's announcements on tax cuts and infrastructure investments in particular were observed with interest. On the one hand, many of the planned measures are likely to have a positive impact on corporate profits and economic growth. On the other hand, some analysts fear that certain decisions could increase inflationary pressure, such as the frequently announced introduction of new tariffs. However, the fact that no immediate and drastic measures were announced in this regard caused a noticeable sigh of relief among investors.

DOGE department to put budget deficit in order

In addition, President Trump has established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is headed by Elon Musk. The aim of this agency is to increase government efficiency, reduce bureaucracy and cut unnecessary spending. Musk plans to reduce the number of federal agencies from over 400 to less than 100 and save up to 2 trillion dollars in the process.

The spending cuts announced by the Trump administration cover a wide range of areas. Particularly affected are social programs such as Medicaid, subsidies for renewable energies and international aid payments. Significant savings are also planned at federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Education. These measures are expected to generate savings of several hundred billion dollars over a ten-year period.

Possible consequences for markets and inflation

If the planned spending cuts and efficiency improvements are successful, this should in turn have a disinflationary effect, which would lead to a further fall in interest rates in the medium term and thus provide a tailwind for the equity markets. 

However, if the planned austerity measures turn out to be very drastic and lead to a decline in domestic demand, this could also have negative implications.

S&P 500 reaches new all-time high

In any case, the coming months will remain exciting. At the moment, optimism seems to prevail. The S&P 500 rose to 6,128 points last week, reaching a new all-time high.

Stock chart with several indicators: candlestick pattern, moving averages, volume bars, on balance volume (OBV) and accumulation/distribution. False breakout and arrows marked on the chart.
S&P 500 daily chart

The upward movement of the last few days has taken place under increased volume. You can recognize this on the one hand by the volume bars of the individual days. These are above the 10-day average volume. In addition, the on-balance volume signals that the upward movement was accompanied by rising volume, as does the accumulation-distribution line.

Market breadth brightens

In addition to price action, clearly positive signals can also be seen in the area of market breadth. The following chart shows that the number of shares on the New York Stock Exchange with new 52-week highs has risen significantly in recent days (green bars). On the other hand, there were very few stocks with new 52-week lows (red bars). The bar chart at the bottom shows the difference between 52-week highs and 52-week lows. This is now back in positive territory, i.e. the number of shares with new highs is greater than the number of shares with new lows.

Stock market chart with candlestick patterns at the top and three horizontal bar charts below labeled "New Highs", "New Lows" and "New Highs - New Lows", each with fluctuating green and red bars.
NYSE New Highs & New Lows

Conclusion: Bull Case remains active

Based on the developments of the last two weeks and the signals from technical analysis and intermarket analysis, it is clear that the S&P 500 has continued its upward trend and there is a high probability that we will continue to see rising prices in the coming weeks and months. However, as the current phase of the uptrend has recently led to very rapid price rises and short-term exhaustion signals were already evident at the end of the week, it is worth waiting for at least a brief setback in order to open bullish positions again.

The current market environment remains interesting for medium to long-term long positions as well as for options trades such as bull put spreads and/or cash secured puts and covered calls at index level or in individual stocks.

Author: Tobias Schmid
Date: 27.01.2025

A man with slicked-back hair and a trimmed beard, wearing a navy blue suit jacket and a white shirt, looks into the camera with a slight smile. Industrial background.
Tobias Schmid

Tobias Schmid has been a trader and analyst since 2008 and specializes in trading futures options and equity options. His strategies and analysis methods are based on a combination of technical analysis, intermarket analysis and sentiment analysis. Tobias Schmid is also the founder of Fomo Financea financial website for active traders, investors and options traders.

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