As most everyone expected, Congressional brinksmanship gave way to an eleventh hour agreement that will put the government back in business and raise the debt ceiling. However, it’s only a temporary measure that merely defers another knock-down/drag-out for a few months. The question is, how will investors react after an initial bullish burst of relief?

We come into the week riding a new five-year high for the S&P 500 and eight consecutive positive trading sessions.  But a busy week lies ahead with a bevy of economic reports and a boatload of Q4 earnings.  So far we’ve only had a peek at the first couple economic reports, and they were mixed with Durable Goods riding transportation to beat an expected 1.7% increase (after last month’s 0.7% increase) with a solid 4.6% gain.  However Pending Home Sales

That’s been hard to figure lately.  Uncertainty has not eased.  Not in Europe.  Not in the Middle East. Not in China or Japan. Not in the U.S., with a dead-heat election battle and unknown future Congressional dynamics.  Companies overall continue to beat earnings, mostly, and miss on revenues.  Now there is a certainty: earnings cannot keep going up if revenues keep going down.

Banks are the Market's Ball-and-Chain

By David Brown, Chief Market Strategist, Sabrient Systems