US stocks buoyant despite weak data, Ukraine tensions

US stocks closed at the end of trading last month buoyant with a fresh record for the S&P 500 as bullish sentiment dominated trade despite mediocre economic data and rising tensions over Ukraine. The S&P 500 was the week’s star, notching consecutive records on Thursday and on Friday and finishing up 23.2 points (1.26 percent) at 1,859.45. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 218.41 (1.36 percent) on the last week of February to 16,321.71, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tacked on 44.71 (1.05 percent) to 4,308.12. For the month, the Dow jumped 3.97 percent, its biggest monthly gain since January 2013. The S&P 500 increased 4.31 percent in February, while the Nasdaq powered up 4.98 percent. Investor enthusiasm returned in February after the Dow fell 5.3 percent in January. “The US is the place to be in terms of stocks,” said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors. Wren this week bumped up his year-end 2014 forecast for the S&P 500 on expectations of “modest" yet “dependable” growth in the US. “Sentiment is positive. But what you worry about is if the market becomes very overvalued and there's widespread optimism that borders on euphoria,” said Hugh Johnson, chairman of Hugh Johnson Advisors. “That’s a combination that usually signals we're near the end, and I don’t see that.” The gains recorded on the last two days of trading in Feb underscored the strong appetite for stocks even as tensions rose over Ukraine, said Gregori Volokhine, president of Meeschaert Capital Markets in New York. Volokhine described the Ukraine situation as potentially “explosive geopolitically” because of the possibility the US could take “economic action” against Russia. “Such huge tensions are never good for markets,” Volokhine said, according to AFP.