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- INTERNET BLACKOUTS SKYROCKET AMID GLOBAL UNREST DRIVER
- INTERNET BLACKOUTS SKYROCKET AMID GLOBAL UNREST SERIES
"You're fighting against the trend right now when you're trying to play the pullback." "There are people out there who want to buy stocks," said Justin Wiggs, vice president of trading at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore. Indeed, despite the various obstacles that might have triggered a market relapse otherwise, the averages are closing out a solid January with gains of more than 2 percent. "But make no mistake, (Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke) is spiking the Kool-Aid in a significant way and it is working for now." "The Fed is now targeting the stock market and engaging in some form of manipulation to invite the same speculative risky behavior that ended so badly in the past," David Rosenberg, economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff in Toronto, wrote in an analysis earlier this week. It also shows faith in a stubborn market pushed by traders who hold the sentiment that even if all else fails, the Federal Reserve with its liquidity programswill be there to backstop the market until it no longer can.
INTERNET BLACKOUTS SKYROCKET AMID GLOBAL UNREST DRIVER
That's reflective of a view that even if the US economy sputters global growth will continue to be a driver in a market that is 90 percent off its March 2009 financial crisis lows. Landesman recommends investors "be patient" in a market likely to present volatility ahead.Īt the same time, S&P, with its full-year 1,370 target, thinks investors ought to pursue a cyclical sector strategy, with an overweight on industrials, information technology and materials, while underweighting health care and utilities. It's going to really put a crimp in industrial production." "I do not believe the S&P can hold up under $120 oil.
INTERNET BLACKOUTS SKYROCKET AMID GLOBAL UNREST SERIES
"If we end up with a whole series of theocracies surrounding Israel, it does not portend well for Middle East peace," he said. On a technical basis, Landesman sees 1,305 a key technical level for the S&P 500, with a breakout higher to 1,337 or lower to 1,230 to follow.īecause of the uncertain state of employmentand housing, coupled with the international threat, Landesman thinks a move to the downside is more likely, with a 6 percent pullback looming. "The odds of an oil spike this year well over $100 (a barrel) in the $125 to $130 range remains very possible given the almost-wild radicalization going on the area." That means oil," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners in New York. "The Middle East is really going in the wrong direction big-time. But worries remain that a disruption in crude production will spill over into the equities markets. Notably, oil prices have remained within their recent trading rangedespite the turmoil. The unrest came as the region also was reeling from the overthrow of governments in Tunisia and Lebanon. On some investors' minds, though, is the uprising in Egypt that sent stocks plungingmore than 10 percent in Thursday's trading.
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There are several other reasons Stovall said he is looking for a pullback, among them overly bullish sentiment and weak internals. "Many global indices have failed to follow the DJIA and 500 during the last week, and we see this as a major warning that a pullback or correction is near." "Despite the hoopla over the (Dow industrials) eclipsing 12,000 and the S&P 500 nearing 1,300, we see widening cracks in the dam," Sam Stovall, S&P's chief equity strategist, said in an analysis for clients. It is boldest forecast yet from a leading firm that the current market is overheated.
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Standard & Poor's, for one, is predicting that its benchmark index, the S&P 500, is likely to drop up to 10 percent in the next two weeks, based on a variety of factors both technical and fundamental. As for strategy, even those with the most dour of outlooks say a pullback will present a buying opportunity, while selling into strength may not be the best strategy in a market considered likely to bounce back.
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The question now seems only a matter of timing and degree.
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