Equities Make Comeback After 2013 Worst Day Ever On Consumer And Housing Data
Will it last?
Stocks made a strong comeback today after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 200 points yesterday to close with the worst point loss in 2013 so far. After 3 weeks of severely tight trading, stocks broke out of a range to the upside but fell flat shortly thereafter. The Dow gained 115.96 points or 0.84% to close at 13,900.13 while the S&P 500 rose 9.09 points to 1,496.94 today.
Economic news from the housing market and the Conference Board’s index helped market sentiment. The Conference Board’s index logged the first improvement in four months jumping to 69.6, in February from a revised 58.4 in January.
Housing numbers today also helped traders stay bullish in the short run. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index rose 0.9 percent in December and suggests the turnaround in the housing sector isn’t temporary.
We remain neutral on stocks and are looking for recent support levels to hold but the S&P is below 1,500 which could a sign of more negative pressure the longer it remains below this level. The current downtrend could be a short run buying opportunity so we will continue to watch the euro and the yen carefully for market direction as well as tech, small cap and financials.
