Monday, January 14, 2008

Technical Strength by Sectors and Readings to Start the Week

* Technical Strength - As I noted in my recent indicator review, the market's technical strength remains weak, but ended the week with some strengthening. Here are the technical strength scores broken down by sector:

Materials: -280
Industrials: -300
Consumer Discretionary: -340
Consumer Staples: +100
Energy: -200
Health Care: +360
Financial: -240
Technology: -280

Once again, we see relative strength in defensive sectors, with other sectors showing concern about recession.

* Recession - A number of worthwhile readings from Abnormal Returns on the Fed and concerns over recession. The post re: Fed worry very much fits my thinking.

* Excellent Insight - The credit markets will improve before the economic picture improves: great post from Accrued Interest.

* Accounting for the Market - This post from Jeff Miller is worth reading a couple times, noting the effect of accounting changes on corporate behavior and questioning recent interpretations of the ABX.

* More Than Subprime - Calculated Risk on how the current credit problems are not limited to subprime.

* Discipline Before Feelings - I like this smart blog from David Merkel and his note about discipline and portfolio management.

* Getting an Edge - Excellent summaries of research into markets and strategies with edge from CXO Advisory. I was interested to see momentum as one of the strongest market anomalies.