Daily Investment Interpretations

February 5, 2010

2010-2-5:  The markets fell deep into bear country today, but then rallied sharply toward the end of the trading day, closing up for the day. Wall Street swinging back: . The NASDAQ Composite climbed 15.69 points, (0,74%) to close at 2,141,12, the Dow rallied 10.05 points (0.1%) to close at 10,012.23, and the S&P 500 advanced 3.08 points (0.29%) to close at 1,066.19. Oil fell sharply to $71.42 a barrel. Gold fell $10 to end the day at $1,054. The VIX climbed 0.03 to 26.11.
   Dow reclaims 10,000  
   Dollar extends gains   
   Jobless rate below 10%  
   Jobs showing signs of life  
   Data don't tell us what we want
   One of my investment advisory services suggests that the current contraction is a correction in an ongoing cyclical bull market rather than the beginning of a new cyclical bear market because of technical indicators that have indicated something other than a bull market top. Still, no one can be sure. The advisory service thinks that this is the first leg in a two- or three-stage market correction. If so, there will be better buying opportunities ahead.
    The S&P 500 penetrated the 1,045 level today, which, at -9%, puts it close to a 10% correction. (This would occur at 1,035.)
    The dollar continued its rise today because of a flight to the relative safety of the dollar (along with some further unwinding of the dollar carry trade, as nervous hedge-fund traders who bet against the dollar sold stocks to cover their bets against the dollar.).