The S&P 500 Index closed at a record high on Wednesday, yet investors seem increasingly on edge with the VIX Index, a measure of implied volatility on the S&P 500, spiking nearly 40% week-to-date. We won’t bury the lead here, our answer to the title is simple: this could be the start of a correction, but we aren’t betting on a significant decline in the S&P 500 and here’s why.

First of all, it is important to remember that corrections are a normal part of investing and there are plenty of reasons why stocks could pull back here. Just last week, we published Three Things That Worry Us, and highlighted

We mix it up this week on the LPL Market Signals podcast and bring on LPL Research’s Director of Research Marc Zabicki to discuss what he has learned about investing and working with Advisors in his more than three decade career.

Learning About Marc

Marc takes us on a path of how he landed at LPL and why he is so excited about the next phase of his career. He has always been a Research guy, but working with Advisors is something he always enjoyed and he is glad to be back at it. Although his new role brings with it many challenges, he is excited to work with our nearly 30 person Research team and help our Advisors help

The June Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Services Index was a bit softer than expected (60.1 vs. the Bloomberg consensus estimate of 63.5), although the overall reading remained near multi-year highs. The June figure also came in lower than May’s reading of 64.0. Survey respondents were bullish on many components of the overall index, including remaining order backlogs that needed to be filled and pricing power. However, supply managers did point to the proper availability of labor as a chief concern.  The labor component was down sharply from previous months. In sum, the overall index points to an economy firmly on the mend,

To quote the great Frank the Tank from Old School, “We’re going streaking!” Although Frank had another idea, stocks have been streaking in some historic ways, both near-term and longer-term.

Let’s start with the more recent action. The S&P 500 Index was recently higher seven consecutive days for the first time since last August, but even more impressive is it made new highs all seven of those days. You have to go back to June 1997 to find the last time we saw a streak like that! Incredibly, this has happened only eight other times since 1950 and stocks were higher a year later every single time.

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