The Weekly Snapshot – December 20, 2015

Top News Headline

Stocks end down after wild 700 point range trading.

US ends oil export ban. Crickets chirp.

Republicans debate, Democrats debate, the nation shudders.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens shatters box office records.

I visit the mall to Christmas shop, discover the obesity epidemic is not solved, mirrors in short supply.

Economic News

Fed hikes rates by 25 basis points, bond market doesn’t cooperate.

Manufacturing data continues to disappoint.

Service data starts to disappoint too. Uh-oh.

Housing still strong.

Random Thought of the Week

Seven years of zero interest rates and this is the best we can do? The Yellen Fed seems to believe that if they just believe that the economy is good, if they hike rates as if it was good, then it will be so. Which just goes to show how bare the cupboard of monetary policy really is. They’ve got nothing and they know it.

Chart Of The Week

The percentage of stocks in the S&P 500 trading above their 200 day moving average sits today at a paltry 40%. What is really amazing about that number is that it is well above the low set in August in the teens. It is also way above the single digit lows set in late 2008/early 2009. The trend is clearly down and it isn’t just the S&P 500 having trouble. The S&P 100 is at 41% and the NASDAQ is at a gut wrenching 32.5%. These are numbers normally associated with at least a stock market correction and yet today we find ourselves just 6% below the all-time highs. That is a testament to how narrow the market has become with only a few large stocks holding the averages up. I suspect that won’t last much longer.