Market Direction Weekly Closing Numbers©

Market Direction: BULLISH alert issued 11/10/2016

The economy

The S&P 500 took a breather during the past week, logging a modest downtick of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.0% thanks to relative strength in the technology sector.

The benchmark index spent the week inside a 25-point range as participants awaited the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season. On Friday, Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) got things going with a set of mixed results. Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase topped bottom-line expectations while Wells Fargo reported below-consensus results. The three names surged at the start of Friday's session, but saw intraday profit taking. It is worth remembering that the financial sector enjoyed a huge post-election run, soaring more than 15.0% in just one month. During the past week, the sector shed 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the top-weighted technology sector advanced 0.8% with chipmakers leading the way. The PHLX Semiconductor Index climbed 1.8% ahead of next week's release of quarterly results from index components like ASML (ASML), Linear Technology (LLTC), and Skyworks (SWKS).

Investors received a small batch of economic reports last week with the most noteworthy pair crossing the wires on Friday. December PPI (+0.3%; Briefing.com consensus +0.3%) and core PPI (+0.2%; Briefing.com consensus +0.1%) were close to expectations while December Retail Sales (+0.6%; Briefing.com consensus +0.7%) and Retail Sales ex-auto (+0.2%; Briefing.com consensus +0.6%) disappointed. Recall that two weeks ago, several apparel retailers made cautious comments about their expectations for fourth-quarter earnings. The consumer discretionary sector added 0.8% for the week, extending its January gain to 3.2%.

Rate hike expectations barely budged during the past week. The implied probability of a hike in June ticked up to 69.7% from last Friday's 69.0%, according to the fed funds futures market.

$tockMarketDirection proprietary model is currently BULLISH. We strongly encourage you to monitor positions closely, exercise proper money management strategies and follow us at $tockMarketDirection for ALERTS we may issue advising a change in the current market direction. Stay tuned and follow us. If you have a testimonial or comment of how this website has helped you we would like to know, write us. Share with a friend.

By the numbers the weekly closing index numbers compared to the initial BULLISH recommendation closing numbers: 

Stock Market Closing Numbers
compared to Recommendation Numbers
	11/10/2016	1/13/2017	Difference
Dow Jones	18,807.88	19,885.73	1,077.85
Nasdaq	5,208.80	5,574.12	365.32
S&P 500	2,167.48	2,274.64	107.16

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