Market Direction Week of March 7, 2016

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Last Week Review: Stocks posted gains for the third week in a row, and the S&P 500 is now only down 2.2% year-to-date. The recent uptrend in stock prices has been led by the industrials, materials and energy sectors because the price of oil has increased and because better-than-expected manufacturing data has been reported recently. This highlights the importance of sector diversification within your equity portfolio, since portfolios with limited exposure to the industrials, materials and energy sectors likely lagged behind the broader market over the past three weeks. In addition, ensure that your portfolio has the right mix of stocks and bonds because this mix can determine up to 90% of your portfolio's returns over time.

Major indexes were higher on the week, with the all U.S. market sectors posting gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 367 points to end the week at 17,007, up 2.2%. The S&P 500 gained 52 points to end at 2,000, up 2.7%. Bond prices were lower on the week, pushing the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield up 0.11% to end at 1.88%.

How the market finished last week, the S&P 500 up 2.7%, the Nasdaq up 2.8%, and the Dow up 2.2%.

This Week: U.S. economic data to be released next week is sparse, giving investors the opportunity to monitor the outcome of the European Central Bank's (ECB) meeting on Thursday. Many believe that the ECB will decide to boost its current stimulus program in order to spark GDP growth in the Eurozone, which was reported at 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2015.

U.S. economic data is scant next week so I think it’s going be all about reports out of China and Japan (Monday and Wednesday) and of course the ECB interest rate decision and press conference on Thursday.

Economic Calendar: EIA Petroleum Status Report (3/9) Treasury Budget (3/10), Import and Export Prices (3/11)

Some of the major earnings announcements on deck: BBSI, DKS, HOV

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