“Stocks fall on Fed taper discussion.” That’s the gist of what you heard in the media on Wednesday to account for the market’s late-day pullback. There’s always some sort of attempt to explain daily market action. But the reality is that investors simply must take a periodic breather to regroup and retrench, particularly when making an assault on round-number resistance for a major index.

The S&P 500 seemed to hit a wall at 1800, retreating after the all-time, but rebounded to close only 0.38% down. It could be just a pause or it could be a bit more serious due the plethora of earnings reports this week from the Consumer Discretionary sector.  Today, URBN began what will be a veritable deluge of retail sector earnings reports this week

The U.S. stock market has been reluctant to provide eager bulls with a tasty entry point ahead of the much anticipated year-end rally. Although the major indexes have seen fit to consolidate a bit and work off some of their overbought conditions, bulls have hoped for a something more substantial. But very few holders are selling these days.

Today, the markets barely moved all day; the bond markets were closed for Armistice Day; and there were no scheduled government reports. Volume was nearly negligible, so it’s very difficult to draw any conclusions from today. 

Today, the SPY index closed at new highs while the S&P 500 was not able to make a new high, but closed strong, up about 0.3% on the day. The Russell 2000 (RUT) rebounded from a very weak performance over the past two weeks due to profit taking.  Today, it rose 1.15%, but volume was below average.

Like any superhero or action movie star who relies upon a “trusty sidekick,” Mr. Market stays strong, confident, and bold with the Federal Reserve at his side. Chairman Bernanke (and heir apparent Janet Yellen) firmly believes that the wealth effect provided by rising stock and housing markets is essential for maintaining consumer spending and corporate earnings growth.

The market ended last week up about 1% with Large-cap Growth leading the way, up 1.15%.  Worst was the cap/style that has led for over a year, Small-cap Growth, up only 0.08%.  Clearly, traders were cautious, as value did better than growth in Mid- and Small-caps.  Large-cap leading is another sign of caution. 

As I and most other observers expected, stocks took the go-signal from Congress and burst through all prior resistance levels with barely any hesitation. And why not?

Despite overwhelming damage to America’s global face, the dysfunctional politicians in Washington passed a temporary solution to the budget and debt ceiling problems at the very last minute.  But really they only kicked the ball two or three months down the road.  Imagine going through this again in early January after Congress takes its holiday break.

Sabrient's Baker's Dozen 2013 is up 37.24% since January 11, 2013.  The top 5 performers are EPL +80.10%, GNW +71.27%,  JAZZ +53.61%, STX +50.32%, and OCN +47.91%.  All 13 stocks are positive; 12 have double-digit gains, and the only single-digit performer, ASH, is doing fine at +8.09%.Baker's Dozen 2013 up 37.24% YTD.

You can track the Baker's Dozen performance here