Over the past week or so, I have written about some price levels I wanted to see exceeded to turn the picture a little more bullish. Since then, all five major stock market indices have closed above those levels. After that I wrote about the “key” reversal last Friday that had some analysts calling for the end of the bull market. The market immediately rejected that rejection. Then the bears hung their hopes on the “magical” 50 day moving average. On Tuesday, every major index closed firmly above their average price of the last 50 days. The bears cried about the lack of volume. Stock market volume just surged.
I think the bears have started to throw in the towel. And that now makes me a tad nervous.
During Tuesday’s rally, banks closed lower and are reacting negatively to good earnings. High yield (junk) bonds, while rallying nicely, closed near their lows of the day on Tuesday. Stock market participation in the rally is decent, but from resounding and we still do not have a single day where 90% of the volume has been in advancing stocks. That’s not the type of action that leads to a strong and sustainable move higher. It’s what you sometimes see before a rally ends.
I guess what I am trying to say is that after not worrying too much about the short-term for a while, I am now growing more concerned. Before the emails come in, I still believe the bull market is intact and Dow 27,000 remains on tap. I am just not sure that stocks are going straight to new highs from here. Let’s see what the coming few days bring…
