Market Update

Market Direction Is Important –

Updated Chart of the S&P 500 and Secondary Signals

Of our Four secondary indicators under our MTI:

1. Relative Strength Index (RSI)-Positive

2. Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)-Positive

3. MACD- Positive

4. Money Flow Index-MFI-Positive

More on the Market and the Economy:

Stocks logged post-election gains last Wednesday, though on weak participation, with the S&P 500 and the Dow both closing at new record highs.

The reaction to Friday’s jobs report was muted, but the market managed to eek out a gain on Friday – again on low volume – with the S&P 500 and the Dow both posting a gain for the third consecutive week, and closing at a record high for the third consecutive day.

The S&P 500 ended the week up .7%, and the Dow posted a weekly gain of 1%. The S&P 500 has now rebounded better than 9% from the six-month low on October 15th.

Source: dhsort.com

Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 80% have exceeded profit expectations, and 60% have topped sales estimates.

Following Friday’s jobs report, which featured a headline jobless rate falling to 5.8% and the economy adding 214,000 jobs, a different look at the jobs picture from the Pew Research Center:

This week, the market will digest data on small business optimism, job openings and labor turnover, retail sales, consumer sentiment and business inventories.

US borrowing costs for the fourth quarter will be the lowest in seven for that period: the Treasury plans to issue $232 billion in net marketable debt from October through December – the lowest since 2007…but $45 billion more than was projected three months ago. For the first quarter of 2015, the Treasury plans to borrow $209 billion.

Inequality and joblessness will be among the world’s biggest threats in 2015, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda. Deepening income inequality tops the list, as wealth in developing nations is increasing, while remaining stagnant in advanced economies. Second on the list is persistent jobless growth, as technological advances displace workers.