On a day when 68,000 reported jobs were lost the market behaved surprisingly well. S&P 850 remains a stubborn upside barrier. About 10:30a we crossed to 852 but declined to 827 about 2:30p before closing at 837, up .56%. Advancing issues led decliners but there were 42 new lows to 4 new highs. The Russell mid-cap index up 1.2%.
My junk bond fund, JNK, was nervously up 1.4% on lower volume.
Added to my pilot position of Abbott (ABT).
Capitol One (COF), my short idea, was down 3.8% on 20% higher volume.
Banks could not get out there own way. They started strong, BAC up 11% at one time and tailed off, most finishing red, in the face of remarks from Goldman Sachs and the 11% decline of US Bancorp (USB).
Got to hand it to the market here. It is trying to grind out a base. But if we can’t get over S&P 850, stay over and mount an attack to 900 then this will just be a bear market rally.
And for those wanting to commit seppuku after learning how much to save for retirement: www.analyzenow.com
