S&P 500 Ends 2013 Seven Week Winning Streak:
Is this the beginning of something?
The Dow barely eked out a slim weekly gain, avoiding its third-consecutive weekly decline. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 posted its first weekly loss this year, snapping its seven-week win streak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average barely gained for the week to snap a two week losing streak and rose less than 1 percent but the S&P 500 wasn’t as lucky. The S&P 500 fell after economic news rattled markets early in the week.
The S&P 500 had its first losing week in 2013 as key sectors like tech and financials kept the overall average from climbing higher. We noticed a drop in the relative strength of the major market indexes two weeks ago but it wasn’t confirmed by follow through until Thursday.
February 2013 has been characterized by low volume and anemic volatility. The Dow traded in less than a 1.5 percent range for 17 straight days which made all trades sketchy. A decrease in rangebound trading keeps us neutral and it’s the longest time in several years we have remained this indifferent. We are no longer neutral-defensive in the short-run but without follow through there is no reason to take extreme long positions yet.
The S&P 500 6 Month Performance (Week Ended February 23, 2013)
