Regardless of what I say, the market clearly wants a plan from the President and Congress so that sequestration can be avoided on March 1, 18 days from now.

Our forward-looking SectorCast predicts things won’t go well—for the first time in the history of the model, the top three sectors, Consumer Cyclicals, Non-Cyclicals, and Technology, are all flight-to-safety. Last week, the market eked out a slight gain. While all style/caps were positive, only two sectors were positive on a cap-weighted basis: Consumer Cyclicals and Technology. The rest were mostly marginally negative.

The markets opened up today on the heels of last week’s positive developments in Europe. Unfortunately, Manufacturing ISM came in unexpectedly low at 49.7 versus an expected 52.2, which was down sharply from last month’s 53.5.  The market quickly gave up those early gains; the S&P 500 and the Dow took a small loss while the NASDAQ held onto a small gain.

Okay, Virginia, Maybe There is a Santa Claus . . .

Volatile Market Might be Pounding Out a Bottom

Editor’s Note:  David Brown is on vacation.  Scott Martindale, Sabrient’s senior managing director, is this week’s guest editor.   Scott handles institutional sales & marketing for Sabrient. He also writes the weekly Sector Detector and manages the virtual Select Opportunity Portfolio.

Google Scares the Bears Away -- Now What?

By David Brown, Chief Market Strategist, Sabrient Systems

After one of the most volatile weeks in market history, Google (GOOG) single-handedly frightened the bears away this morning with its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility (MMI).

Utilities and Healthcare are trying to hold up the market this week as Financial, Industrial, Basic Materials, and Technology have led the way down. There appears to be little optimism for the banks, given the worsening housing market and imminent end of QE2 (no more free money). Ciena (CIEN) and SINA (SINA) were big losers in Tech-land today. But it is beaten-down Technology that is rising in Sabrient’s SectorCast rankings. 

Stocks Seeking a Catalyst

by David Brown, Chief Market Strategist, Sabrient Systems

Today saw the S&P 500 continue to slide slowly from its recent three-and-a-half-year high. The index closed at 1329.47, down -0.62%.