Consumers in focus — What you need to know in markets on Friday

Stocks are back at record highs.

On Thursday, each of the major US indexes rallied and closed at a new record.

On Friday, the earnings calendar will slow considerably, and the economic schedule will also be light.

The highlight will come at 10:00 a.m. ET when the first reading on consumer sentiment in February from the University of Michigan will be released. Economists are expecting a reading of 98.0, slightly below the 98.5 we saw at the end of January.

Consumer and business sentiment surveys have been closely tracked in the wake of these readings turning markedly higher after the election.

The S&P 500 on Thursday logged its first close over 2,300. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Dow 20,000, right?

But Thursday’s market rally came after comments from President Donald Trump Thursday morning suggested that tax reform could be coming sooner rather than later.

Trump said at a meeting of airline industry leaders on Thursday that an announcement which will be “phenomenal in terms of tax” is going to be made “over the next two or three weeks.”

We’ve written recently that political headlines and markets headlines seem to be diverging, with markets remaining much calmer amid more turbulence when viewing the Trump era’s early days purely through a political lens.

This rally, though, is a reminder that perhaps some had questioned whether markets still cared about what was happening in Washington, when the news is good, it’s good.

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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland

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