Stocks Buffeted by Macro Forces

by David Brown, Chief Market Strategist, Sabrient Systems

What does the market want, anyway? I know that's the name of this newsletter, but it's not an easy question to answer in recent months, and especially in the last couple of weeks.

The market continued to inch ahead today, with the S&P 500 taking another aim at the 18-month high of 1180 which it reached last Thursday before backing off a bit on Friday.  The only thing nudging the market forward seems to be the lack of anything really negative. The economic releases over the past week and today were either at or slightly above projections, and we seemed to have dodged the bullet on a couple of portentous events.