Archive Category: Precision Profits (Market Intel)

Last week was a holiday-shortened trading week. Markets were closed Thursday for Thanksgiving, and Friday was a half day for traders. On holiday weeks, many large traders take time off. They often tell the junior people left in the office to aggressively manage risk. It was the kind of market where large traders were positioned to sell first and ask questions later.

Prices never move straight up or straight down. Large gains in stocks are followed by pullbacks. This is a normal pattern in a bull market. Last week, traders continued adding risk, which led to an improvement in market breadth. It also led to more bullish charts for all of the major indexes.

I follow a number of indicators, and the majority are bullish. That includes the risk-on trade. This indicator measures whether large traders are adding aggressive or defensive stocks to their portfolios. It’s now at an almost two-year high.

Buyers returned to the market last week. We saw earlier signs of this a week ago. Now, we have a number of reasons to expect higher prices. The biggest factor might be interest rates. Ten-year Treasury yields have broken important support levels and appear to be headed lower. This supports higher stock prices. The biggest winners could be small caps, as I explain in this week’s 10-minute webinar.

Stocks sold off last week. Selling pressure in the latter half of the week was particularly high. But under the surface, there were signs of strength. Neither VIX nor volume gave sell signals.