In my weekend analysis, I talked about the possibility of a bullish reverse head-and-shoulders formation for the stock market. And after allowing for a brief panic on Monday, the market has been quite strong this week and appears to be confirming the bullish pattern.

Bulls continue to shake off global challenges to keep the market in rally mode heading into the end of the first quarter, led by powerhouse sectors Basic Materials and Energy as well as Healthcare and upstart Telecom. In fact, the S&P 500 is on track to achieve its largest first quarter return since 1998. The SPY closed today at 132.77, up 5.6% on the quarter with one more trading day to go.

It’s a nice change of pace to talk about something other than the stock market’s persistent uptrend getting more and more overbought. This week has brought some excitement indeed. As I said the last two weeks, it will pay to be cautious with long positions because such a market can reverse and fall quite quickly.

Mid-East Turmoil Trumps Improving Economy

by David Brown, Chief Market Strategist, Sabrient Systems

Bulls on Wall Street continue to call the shots and have their way. Bears who dare try to venture out of hibernation are smacked back into the cave before they’ve barely seen the light of day. The unshakably bullish action and buy-the-dip mentality has many market observers wondering if it can be sustained, given the struggling economy, moribund housing market, rising food and energy prices, skyrocketing deficit, and persistent unemployment.

Forget that the market was down for the fourth consecutive week on Friday.  Investors woke up in a new world today and sent the market soaring.   It is Monday, after all.