The market continued to inch ahead today, with the S&P 500 taking another aim at the 18-month high of 1180 which it reached last Thursday before backing off a bit on Friday.  The only thing nudging the market forward seems to be the lack of anything really negative. The economic releases over the past week and today were either at or slightly above projections, and we seemed to have dodged the bullet on a couple of portentous events.

Despite the global gloom that continues to cause significant concern about economic recovery virtually everywhere, the market pushed right through the resistance wall last week, threatened to give it back on Friday and this morning (Monday), but then continued forging ahead today.

Is the market hitting a wall of resistance…or just refueling before takeoff? Today, the SPY (an ETF that tracks the S&P 500) was up for the twelfth consecutive day. So the question is, can it continue without a pullback to shake out the weaker holders? Let’s look at the numbers.

I have a special story for you this week about a pair of stocks, but let’s begin with our usual market overview.

Well, I’ve been writing in this column that the market has been signaling that it wants to breakout to the upside, and it finally broke back above its 50-day moving average as we began the new month. Sabrient’s SectorCast-ETF rankings are mostly holding steady, with Financials, Energy, Healthcare, and InfoTech still showing the best fundamental valuations.