Volatility continues as the parade of mixed earnings and economic reports marches along amidst a backdrop of global unrest and economic uncertainties. This has led to a neutral near-term outlook for both the technical picture and fundamentals-based sector rankings. Nevertheless, the longer-term trends appear to favor further flattening of the yield curve and continued strength in the dollar, gold, volatility, and equities.

This could prove to be one the most interesting market weeks of the year, assuming the market ever opens.  Talk about uncertainty!  We can add “Frankenstorm” to the litany of other uncertainties such as the election and its impact on a functional Congress and the ongoing concerns in Europe, Middle East, China, and Japan.

Last week was horrible, while today was quite good, albeit on low volume.  What happened?  Let’s review the facts.

Last week, the S&P 500 dropped over -4% to close Friday at the key support at 1295, off nearly -8% from its April high.  Mid-cap Growth was the worst style/cap, down -6.2%.  The best was Large-cap Value, off -4.3%.