The week started out well as insured depositors were spared in Cyprus, and that resonated well with investors.  Furthermore, last week’s domestic economic data was quite positive especially for housing.  The Philadelphia Fed Survey was much better than expected; Initial Jobless Claims remained in the low 300K area; and LEI were as expected. Read more about What the Market Wants: Recapitalization Scenarios

Earnings reports on Wednesday from big banks like Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) were encouraging. And Apple (AAPL) got a much-needed boost from the top tech analysts. However, Goldman’s analysts tried to throw a wet blanket on the markets earlier this week with their expectation that earnings reports overall this year would be “uninspiring” and that equity returns this year likely will be only in the single digits. Read more about Sector Detector: Bulls resist giving up any ground

Five years ago this month, the S&P 500 hit all-time high of 1576. It closed Wednesday at 1461. Can the market make a run at that all-time high? Well, the biggest threat at the moment to bullish sentiment is the Fiscal Cliff, but both presidential candidates have a plan for dealing with it, and Congress is unlikely to want to take the fall for defying the new President and sending the country back into recession. Read more about Sector Detector: Stocks back in rally mode even without Tech leadership

It is quite clear that the market wants good reports from the earnings announcements that begin this week. We make that judgment based on Friday’s weak close, despite a solid week of some of best economic news of the year that culminated with the drop in unemployment to 7.8% from the expected 8.2%. Read more about What the Market Wants: Fasten Your Money Belts

“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.”  -- Woody Allen  Read more about ETF Periscope: Will Earnings Season Ride to Rescue or Compound Investor Concerns?

Its earnings season again!  Q2 results began today with a so-so report from Alcoa (AA), but they will end the week with much awaited reports from JP Morgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC).  To be fair, the market began the week on the tail end of a trio of bad stories, a not-so-dynamic duo of emerging stories from the banking sector, and a single focus on the upcoming election. Read more about What the Market Wants: A Rare Big Zero, a Whale Trade and Unspeakable Fears

Last week was horrible, while today was quite good, albeit on low volume.  What happened?  Let’s review the facts.

Last week, the S&P 500 dropped over -4% to close Friday at the key support at 1295, off nearly -8% from its April high.  Mid-cap Growth was the worst style/cap, down -6.2%.  The best was Large-cap Value, off -4.3%. Read more about What the Market Wants: Turnabout

When something is confusing or incomprehensible, a person might say, “It’s all Greek to me.” Well, that’s exactly what investors have been saying for the past several days—in the market’s inimitable way. Despite promising economic and corporate news in the U.S., the headline risk from Europe has been just too much to bear. It is keeping the bulls at bay, and front and center for an encore performance is Greece. Read more about Sector Detector: Confused investors are saying, “It’s all Greek to me”

Here we are again wondering what the market wants.  Today, it clearly wasn’t Technology stocks, as various issues dragged both Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) lower. Read more about What the Market Wants: Technology Stocks Under Siege

After last week’s technical breakout on elevated volume, stocks have flattened and trading volume has waned as investors seem to be waiting to see whether there will be a pullback to test new support levels and the bulls’ conviction. I think the bulls are plenty convicted—not conflicted. Read more about Sector Detector: Awaiting the next catalyst