The After-Christmas Employment Lull

The reason du jour for the market being lower today was that the employment numbers were a bit disappointing. Basically, the number of folks applying for unemployment was up to 445,000 last week. And that marks the highest level since October.


This means the part-time holiday help at Wal-mart and JC Penney were let go.

I don't think this is a reason to panic. And the market wasn't too horrible today. Remember, we've had quite a run up since September. There will be points where the market pauses, trends sideways, and gives us all a scare.

Keep an eye on earnings and the forward-looking statements by companies as we cruise through earnings season. How investors react will determine whether we keep trending or get stuck in a trading range. And if it's the latter, it wouldn't be the worst thing
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Been swamped at work. You know, sometimes it's really difficult to pick up momentum after the holidays. I think it's easy to get stuck in the lull. But when the boss is cracking the whip, it's not easy to have an easy-going pace.

It's going to be near 60-degrees here tomorrow. Really! Man, have I mentioned how much I prefer the warm months to the cold months!