Over the last few days, we've seen oil prices come back, and the market was looking for that to happen, especially since that has been a tax on the consumer and on business.
There's a number of different factors affecting the markets. We're getting near the end of the year and with the S&P 500 up around 20 percent, there's a lot of portfolio pruning going on, with people taking profits, or choosing to sell for tax purposes.
The employment news this morning provided some support for the market, counterbalancing the news out of Intel.
I think the key word is uncertainty. Until we find some direction you look for good companies or sectors that are growing at a reasonable price.
I think it's going to be a quiet week heading into the long weekend. Through the summer, people are going to be focusing on the next earnings period, monetary policy, and if we are going to see more strong economic growth, as well as payrolls.
I think this is just a continuation of the market getting to the point where people are taking profits.
Stocks have had a good run over the last couple of months on anticipation that the fourth-quarter earnings would be good, and by and large, they have been. But we've had so many weeks of an up market that it was bound to stabilize at some point, which is what we're seeing now.
Given the lack of trading volume, it's going to be hard to gauge any moves we make. We have a lot of data to get through.
You're seeing a lot more selling now and a little bit of buying. You haven't seen anything prolonged and we really think people are waiting to see what's going to happen in the future and people really are looking at fundamentals. I think you are seeing a sea change where fundamentals do matter. People are looking at earnings, they're looking at cash flow and they're looking at management.
Copyright © 2024 Electric Goat Media. All Rights Reserved.