This last week has seen wild swings in the markets, and certainly the ISM reports did not help the mood of pessimism. Starting Monday, the markets got a significant jump up of almost 140 points on the DJIA, but the mood changed as soon as the July 2011 Manufacturing ISM Report (PMI) was released at 10am. Read more about A Macro View: No Silver Lining ISM Reports

Hopefully, the phony debt limit discussions are behind us, at least for the moment. Maybe people will start thinking about the basics of economic thought. Two of the crazier ideas floated were to issue two 1 oz. Read more about A Macro View: Phony Debt Limit Discussions, Monetizing the Debt

While the Manufacturing ISM Report showed general weakness in the indexes and an overall drop in the PMI, the Non-Manufacturing ISM Report showed a significant drop in the headline NMI index, as well as a dramatic drop in new orders. Read more about A Macro View: April ISM Brings Downers, but Net Manufacturing Is Up

Normalcy is the best way to describe the ISM reports for November.   The indexes show a steady growth for both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors.   Econoday states it as following for both sectors.

ISM Non-Mfg Index:
This report falls in line with the run of other data, this morning's employment report excluded, that are pointing to moderate, steady economic growth ahead. (1)

Investors are constantly bombarded by triviality and meaningless data. Read more about A Macro View: Hyperinflationistas Unite for the Revolution!

Market volatility continues, with the Dow gapping down under 10,000 to start the day today before recovering nicely by the close. Most of the major indexes are still below their 200-day moving averages, but interestingly, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQQ) and the Russell 2000 (IWM) actually closed above theirs. I see this as bullish. Read more about Sector Detector: Volatile Markets, Stable Rankings

The stock market’s technical “topping formation” finally manifested in a correction in early May, and it resumed over the past several days. The 20-day moving average that had provided consistent support during the methodical rally has proven to be formidable resistance (along with the converging 50-day). Read more about Sector Detector: InfoTech and Energy stay solid at the top

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As earnings season gets underway with mixed results but a generally positive trend, Wall Street analysts are coming out with upgrades and downgrades to earnings estimates that are significantly impacting our sector rankings this week. Read more about Sector Detector: Seeing rotation in fundamentals