Complete Monday Game Plan

Markets shrugged off some early weakness Friday to finish at the flat line. For the week the Nasdaq returned to its outperforming the S&P 500’s days, with a weekly gain of .7%, while the S&P 500 was flat. On a YTD basis the Nasdaq is now ahead of the S&P 500 by a 19.7% to 18.6% margin. Both benchmarks continue to show very tight, almost dull trading, refusing to give back much of the hard earned gains. Looking at their weekly charts the Nasdaq the last 2 weeks has traded within a 40 and 46 handle range, and the S&P 500 a 21 and 22 handle range. This is generally bullish, but a fair amount of pundits have been almost unanimous that we are due for a correction of some kind. From a fundamental standpoint, as we delve further into earnings season, many companies have been beating on an earnings basis, but revenues have been falling short. You can only manage or massage earnings for a limited period of time. Sooner of later you have to beat on the top line. But price is the be all and end all. And sure we have come real far fast, but that does not mean we can not go higher. Leading stocks are gapping up, giving credence to the rally. Names like SBUX FB UA MCK TRIP COG to name a few. At the same time the markets seem to be ignoring good news, indicating possible exhaustion. Durable goods came in strong, although if the report was dissected, may not have looked as good at first blush. Better than expected economic news from Europe was overlooked. Bulls and bears will slug it out all over again starting Monday morning.