Over the weekend G-20 nations paid lip-service to maintaining awareness of the negative effects of quantitative easing, but their words stopped short of indicating an end to their round-robin money-printing ways. U.S. futures are up this morning, but precious metals lead the way higher as gold and silver are both up sharply this morning. On Friday the major market indexes were up on mixed volume as the NASDAQ staged a reaction rally back up towards its 50-day moving average while the S&P 500 bounced off of its 50-day moving average on higher volume, While the number of distribution days remains troublesome, the countering effects of quantitative easing remain a force with which to be reckoned, as prior snapbacks from sell-offs in 2013 have proven. Each time the major averages looked like they were on the verge of coming apart they have managed to hold their ground and recover to higher-highs. However, a break below current lows established on the major averages would likely send the Market Direction Model to a neutral or sell signal from its current buy signal.
Dow bellwethers IBM, MCD, and GE all fell on heavy volume after weak earnings reports, putting pressure on the Dow Jones Industrials index which, up until Friday, had been the leading index. Money flow into big-cap names, including consumer staples and utilities, shows the defensive posture investors are taking in this challenging environment where strong leading stocks get sideswiped while slow and often junkier names outperform. Meanwhile, GOOG and MSFT offered strong earnings reports causing both to jump higher on strong volume and aiding the NASDAQ's outperformance on Friday.
Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) had a continuation pocket pivot on Friday within a three-weeks-tight formation. Earnings and sales have shot higher over the last 2 quarters, and its industry group is ranked #5. Note that with the market in what has so far been a short-term correction, the environment remains challenging on the long side and so investors should position size accordingly.