Table Graphic Fixed!
(Click Image to Enlarge/ Glossary)
The holiday-shortened inaugural trading week brought us yet another downleg into the depths of the multi-month trading range on renewed banking fears, leaving the S&P 500 (SPY) down an added -1.5%, while Precious Metals (DBP) catapulted +10.6% higher.
After nationalization threats for England's banks (Guardian - Too Late for England's Banks?), the US Financial Sector (XLF) fell another -9.9%. However, for the first time in a while, we saw a divergence among the sectors with Energy (XLE +1.9%), Utilities (XLU +1.5%), Healthcare (XLV +0.9%), and Technology (XLK +0.3%) all finishing modestly higher. Large-cap Value stocks also moved up on the week (PWV +0.7%) in spite of the difficulties in the financial group. Lastly, note in the chart below how, despite the downward price movement, short-term RSIs attempted to register a mild bullish divergence.
Week Five of 2009 features the following busy reporting calendars, including an Federal Open Market Committee meeting within the increasingly heavy earnings season:
Traders next week will undoubtedly deconstruct the language of the FOMC policy statement as they continue to track the progress of the proposed follow-on stimulus bill (Reuters - $825B Bill Progresses) and new Obama administration proclamations (Bloomberg - Obama Signals Bank Restrictions). The rioting over the failure of the Icelandic banks and government will also be watched, mostly as a curiosity at this point (Mail - Icelandic Government Brought Down), even as the third US bank failure of the new year is announced (Bloomberg - First Centennial Shut).
This continues to be a very volatile, news driven environment -- trade accordingly, and... enjoy your weekend!
Never Investment Advice
Did you like this article?
Submitted By 
's
