The
Wall Street Journal - “The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in December,
while a broader measure dropped even further to 15.2% from 15.6% the prior
month, both at their lowest levels since February 2009.
While
the unemployment rate has been falling in part due to people leaving the labor
force, a large portion of this month’s number appears to come from people
finding jobs...
The
key to the drop in the broader unemployment rate was due to a 371,000 drop in
the number of people employed part time but who would prefer full-time work.”
Full story at
The
WSJ said the unemployment rate drop was “for real”.
The
market reacted with a big ho-hum and finished down on the day. In the end it is about earnings in the US. Europe is still a worry since it may bring
down the US earnings. In addition, until
today there were only 2-down days in the last 2-weeks so technically the Market
was due for a down day today, especially on Friday when many traders don’t want
to be long over the weekend.
The
S&P 500 ended down ¼-% to 1278. The
VIX fell nearly 4% to 20.65. It would
appear that the options market thinks we have more upside ahead.
The
NTSM analysis appears to be BUY today, but that might change to HOLD later depending on the final volume. It really makes no difference at this point
because I am holding long either way.
I
bought back into the stock market at S&P 500, 1155 on 7 Oct after the 6 Oct
NTSM buy signal. I remain 100% long in
the long term portfolio (100% stocks in the 401k.). (See the page “How to Use
the NTSM System” – the link is on the right side of this page).
I
am 90% long in the trading portfolio.
Just
a reminder: 100% invested in stocks is way too much for most rational
folks. Don’t do it unless you have a
high tolerance for risk.
