Market Thoughts

The stock market has actually held up well considering the turmoil in the Middle East, with oil and gasoline prices climbing.

Those are the negative things. Oil shock usually, if not always, leads to a stock market correction. If people spend more on fuel, they spend less at retailers, restaurants, and other goods and services. That impact revenues and profits for corporations. We have also had lots of volatility, which can indicate a topping process.

On the plus side, these down days could be much worse. But we are seeing late-day buying. That's usually a sign of market strength. Triple point losses seem to vanish in the last half-hour of trading.

I am still long in lower beta stuff, and some oil plays.

My thought in January is that we were going to have a correction and then rally in spring. Looks like the market has just stalled a bit so far.