“The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week from a seven-month high, pointing to continued improvement in labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 307,000 for the week ended Jan. 17...” Story at…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/us-usa-economy-idUSKBN0KV1IF20150122
ECB ANNOUNCES QE (Bloomberg)
“Mario Draghi called on the European Central Bank to make its biggest push yet to fend off deflation and revive the economy by unleashing a debt-buying spree of 1.1 trillion euros ($1.3 trillion).” Story at…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-21/ecb-said-to-propose-qe-of-50-billion-euros-a-month-through-2016.html
ECB ACTION WON’T DELAY FED RATE HIKE (MarketWatch)
“Investors are beginning to bet that the Federal Reserve will lose its nerve and postpone the increase in interest rates that the central bank has hinted would come sometime this summer. They’re going to lose that bet because the strong dollar isn’t signaling weakness in the U.S. economy, but strength.” Commentary at…
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-ecbs-qe-wont-delay-fed-rate-increases-2015-01-22
MARKET REPORT
-Thursday, the S&P 500 was up about 1.5% to 2063 (rounded).
-VIX fell about 13% to 16.44.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury Note rose slightly to 1.88%.
MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)
The 10-day moving average of the percentage of stocks advancing (NYSE) remained 54% at the close Thursday. (A number above 50% is usually GOOD news for the markets.) New-highs outpaced New-lows Thursday. The spread (new-highs minus new-lows) was +235 (It was +77 Wednesday). The 10-day moving average of change in the spread increased to +11. In other words, over the last 10-days, on average, the spread has INCREASED by 11-each day.
Internals remained positive on the market.
Market Internals are a decent trend-following analysis of
current market action, but should not be used alone for short term trading.
They are usually right, but they are often late. They are most useful when they diverge from
the Index. In 2013, using these
internals alone would have made a 16% return vs. 30% for the S&P 500 (in on
Positive out on Negative – no shorting).
Of course, few trend-following systems will do well in an extreme
low-volatility, straight-up year like 2013.
NTSM
The NTSM analysis is HOLD. The PRICE indicator is positive; other indicators are neutral.
MY INVESTED STOCK POSITION
I remain fully invested at 50% invested in stocks. 50% is
conservative, but appropriate for a retired guy. I added QLD and XIV as a trade with some
excess cash on 20 January. 
