Sunday, September 28, 2014

Week Ahead Magazine: Fear Headlines - September 28, 2014

After reading some of the market headlines last week, one would have thought the market experienced some type of terrible correction. A couple of headlines from CNBC that are shown below mention the market "springs back after rout" and market "sinks, fear surges." For the week, the S&P 500 Index was down 1.4% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined only 1%.

From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors

On Thursday, September 18, 2014, the S&P 500 Index hit a closing high of 2,011.36. So, after this past Thursday's market decline, the S&P 500 Index was down 2.26% and ultimately closed the week down only 1.42% from its high. I do not call this a "rout" or a market that "sinks."

Of course, the market seems overdue for a 10+ percent correction, but that does not mean one is around the corner. For the DJIA the last one occurred almost three years ago with the market low in October, 2011. As we noted earlier in the year the market seemed to experience an internal correction when social media and biotech stocks declined sharply in March and April. In the current third quarter it seems a similar situation is occurring as noted by the correction in some market segments. Additionally, a number of energy stocks and industrial stocks have experienced greater than 10% declines in the quarter.

From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors

Lastly, in reviewing a couple of technical aspects for the market, the S&P 500 Index, it remains firmly in an uptrend as noted by the green support line in the below chart. Certainly, some technical damage has been inflicted on the market in last week's minor pullback. The market has violated its 50-day moving average and the percent price oscillator (a version of the MACD) is in a negative downtrend as well. From a positive standpoint, the stochastic indicator appears to be turning higher and a positive turn in the PPO would be beneficial. Lastly, the percentage of stocks trading above their 50 day and 150 day moving averages are near oversold levels. The market may find support at the 50% Fibonacci retracement level of S&P 1,960.

From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors

Before looking at the week ahead, the economic news last week can be summarized as mixed. Probably the most noteworthy news items had to do with data out of Europe and China. The manufacturing and services sector PMIs for the eurozone dipped to their lowest levels of the year and China existing home sales declined. Potentially offsetting these concerns is the strengthening U.S. Dollar and the resulting impact of making foreign goods cheaper as they are exported to the U.S.

The coming week is loaded with a number of important economic reports.
  • Personal income and outlays, pending home sales and Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey (M)
  • Chicago PMI and consumer confidence (T)
  • ADP employment report, PMI Mfg index, ISM mfg index and construction spending (W)
  • Jobless claims and factory orders (Th)
  • Employment situation, international trade report, ISM non-mfg index, global composite PMI and global services PMI (F)
For the week ahead magazine below, a number of links look at recent buyback activity as well as the performance of various market sectors. With a number of individual stocks experiencing significant corrections, one link reviews the fact some stocks just do not mean revert as investors might think. In short, just because a stock looks cheap, it does not mean it will generate market beating returns. And finally, it has been difficult gauging a great deal of insight into investor market behavior based on their sentiment as it has not been overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic. The Gallup article link notes that the "U.S. Investor Optimism Index is at its highest level in Seven Years. This index is officially know as  the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index. I have not reviewed the questions/data closely; however, the index had prior peaks in 2000 and 2007, both market tops. The current index level, though, is far below the 2007 peak.


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