Market Direction Is Important –
Updated Chart of the S&P 500 and Secondary Signals
Of our Four secondary indicators under our MTI:
Relative Strength Index (RSI)-Negative
Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)-Negative
MACD- Negative
Money Flow Index-MFI-Positive
More on the Market and the Economy:
Last Wednesday, the S&P 500 ended a five-day selloff and continued to rally on Thursday. After that two-day rally put stocks into the green for 2015, the market suffered some indigestion on Friday following news of a slump in wage growth from the jobs report. The index ended the volatile week with a .7% loss, putting it the red year-to-date, and off -2.19% from its record close on December 29th.
Source: dshort.com
The release of the minutes from the Fed’s December 16-17th meeting confirmed that the central bank’s plan to be “patient” on hiking rates means it isn’t likely there will be a hike before late April. Most FOMC members believe that patience “indicated that the committee was unlikely to begin the normalization process for at least the next couple of meetings”. And while “a number of participants” expressed concern about the outlook for inflation, noting “a risk that it could run persistently below their 2% objective”, that might not stand in the way of a rate increase, as “the Committee might begin normalization at a time when core inflation was near current levels”.
This week will see the release of data on small business optimism, retail sales, business inventories, industrial production, consumer prices, and the JOLTS report.
Four out of five Americans are satisfied with their standard of living, according to Gallup’s Standard of Living Index, which climbed to the highest in seven years. After hitting a low in late 2008, the index has exceeded pre-recession levels, with 81% of Americans saying that they are satisfied with their current standard of living by the end of 2014…up from 76% at the end of 2013. Americans are also more optimistic about the future: 61% say their standard of living is “getting better”, compared to 33% in late 2008. Less than a quarter (23%) say their standard of living is “getting worse”.
As the holiday season fades in the rearview mirror, fewer Americans are still paying off the previous Christmas. According to Consumer Reports, the share of Americans that have unpaid bills from Christmas one year ago declined to 7% – down from 13% for 2013.
Social media use increased among adults in 2014, with multi-platform use on the rise. Last year, 52% of online adults use two or more social media sites, an increase from 42% in 2013. And for the first time, more than half (56%) of online adults over 65 used Facebook.
