The bullish stock market in 2013 has fueled a surge in IPOs over the past six weeks as $5.2 billion has been raised by 26 new companies. The fact that Facebook, Inc. (FB) has finally moved above its initial offering price has also reassured investors.
The major averages are flat to up slightly for the month after last week's decline. As I concluded last week, one should not expect August to match the outstanding gains that we saw in July. The slight weakness early last week made many commentators turn cautious rather quickly.
Stock investors should have been happy with their July account statements and with the further new market highs in early August. Of course, the concern over the global economy has still kept many out of the stock market despite the year's impressive gains.
The outlook for the US economy has continued to improve, and late last week, there was trade data out of China suggesting its economy may be stabilizing. It would be good to see consecutive positive data points out of China as the trend has not been consistent.
So is now the time for the investor to be complacent?
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