Stocks provided a volatile and sweat-inducing ride last week in what many investors and traders thought might be the big selloff that so many have been predicting. Although the market tends to follow a path that fools the greatest number of people, sometimes it behaves in a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Stocks 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?

Whoa, big fella. That’s what the newly vocal bears had to say to the overly aggressive bulls, as a slew of weak earnings reports put a damper on the party. Last week, it seemed that stocks were determined to rally even without traditional leadership from the Technology sector.

by David Brown, Chief Market Strategist

David Brown