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The US markets were up again last week with the S&P 500 closing above 1,500 for the first time in 5 years.

The stock market has been on a steady New Year’s bull market run ever since Congress and the President announced their agreement regarding the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Amazingly, the S&P 500 is up an astounding 5.38% in the short period between January 1st, 2013 and January 25th, 2013 (about 4 weeks). The S&P 500 ended up last Friday for the 8th consecutive day which marks the longest string of gains the index has experienced since 2004. As of last Friday (January 25th) the Dow closed at 13,895.98, just 269 points from its record high reached in October 2007, of 14,164.53.

The US housing market had another good week and is clearly continuing its steady recovery. Existing homes sales saw a slight decline for the month of December but this was mostly due to a severe supply constraint of only 4.4 months compared to 6.4 months in December 2011. Therefore, anyone who understands economics 101 can tell you that when demand remains constant and supply decreases this will cause the PRICE of homes to INCREASE…and this is what happened in December as the average price of a home rose 0.8% across the country.

While analysts are happy to see the markets climbing back to their all-time highs, many are concerned that the recovery could quickly reverse if Congress and the President do not come up with a long-term solution to the debt ceiling debate and forced sequestrations (deep, broad spending cuts). For now, everyone is happy to see the stock market doing so well.