Today was an inauspicious start to December.  Based on positive pre-opening behavior from Europe, including a number of positive PMI’s (purchasing manager indices), as well as a positive November PMI of 52.8 from our own economy (up from 51.0 in October), our domestic markets opened up about 0.5%. Read more about What the Market Wants: Shame on Washington!

The ISM reports showed mixed signals this time as the PMI (manufacturing) missed the consensus mark by 0.3% at 49.8%, and the NMI (non-manufacturing) beat the consensus by 0.6% at 52.6%. Although muted as usual, the Dow's initial reactions were in the same direction as the consensus miss and later, the consensus beat. Read more about 15 Stocks For Bulls And 15 For Bears, Based On ISM

As the market has shown renewed strength, Technology and Energy have been leaders. Apple (AAPL) gave a stellar earnings report and hit another record high. IBM (IBM) also chipped in this week with a great report. However, Yahoo! Read more about Sector Detector: Market Raises its Glass to Apple and “Gang of 6”

Unfortunately, the dismal attitude we conveyed last week, was fulfilled with one of the worst weeks the market has had in some time.  The S&P 500 has fallen almost 15% from its April highs and is now below all of its moving averages, including the 200-day moving average. Read more about WHAT THE MARKET WANTS: Global Malaise versus US Earnings: Unusual Dichotomy