After a bullish performance last week, the market began the day a little off but managed to fight its way into increases across the major indices with S&P 500 closing at 1556, just 9 points shy of its record closing high in 2007.

david / Tag: MPC, CTB, GNW, STX / 0 Comments

Scott MartindaleLast week, the Dow and S&P 500 large caps hit five-year highs, the Russell 2000 small caps and the S&P 400 mid-caps made all-time highs, and the Nasdaq recorded a 12-year closing high. But some investors are evidently showing concern that it has all come too far too fast.

smartindale / Tag: sectors, iShares, ETF, SPY, VIX, ESRX, AAPL, TECD, RE, V, iyw, IYF, IYH, IYJ, IYE, IYK, IYC, IYZ, IDU, IYM, KSS, LEAP, CHK, MPC, AL, MTW, NXPI / 0 Comments

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.

david / Tag: AAPL, CF, Dk, MPC / 0 Comments

Scott MartindaleStocks have been on a one-way train all month long. Now, as we approach Groundhog Day, the market appears to be having its own version of it as the Dow faces 14,000 and the S&P 500 struggles at 1500. As investors peer out above these levels, will they collectively see their shadow and retreat to safety for the next six weeks? Or will they bravely march forward into the clear blue skies to challenge the all-time highs from 2007?

smartindale / Tag: sectors, ETF, iShares, SPY, VIX, CVLT, TECD, PRE, BLK, iyw, IYF, IYH, IYJ, IYC, IYE, IYK, IYM, IYZ, IDU, JOSH, HAE, MPC, VLO, TSO, HFC / 0 Comments

Given the market’s performance over the last month, we feel that investors should consider reducing the more speculative portions of their portfolio.

david / Tag: THC, MPC, HUM, CELG / 0 Comments

A weekend of more election surprises in Europe, as a socialist candidate won a key state vote in Germany, threatening Prime Minister Angela Merkel‘s stance on austerity in the Eurozone. The Greek “leadership” has all but abandoned hope of forming a new elected government, likely requiring yet another vote.

david / Tag: AFL, DTV, MPC, DFS / 0 Comments

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