As for the stock market specifically: This short week of January was a good week for bulls, despite a modest decline Friday. Each major market index was up multiple percentage points, which nearly all of us welcome.
The general consensus is that “our friends in Washington” will ramp up the fiscal and monetary stimulus (to a new group of favored groups and industries) in a manner that will make the last administration look like cheapskates.
Long time readers know I don’t make predictions here about the stock market, and some you surmised that I don’t make predictions regarding what future legislation will come out of Congress, and get signed into law.
This week I had a few calls regarding current investments and the market risk due to the new administration.
I told each person who asked (and I figured some readers may have the same question, but have not asked) what I am about to write.
My research indicators all say we should be making efforts to make more money. That is what I intend to do until the research I do says otherwise.
However, I do NOT OWN YOUR MONEY. I only invest it.
If for whatever reason, you are worried about market conditions, you own too much stock, and you need to have me “sell to the point where you can sleep at night”, that’s ok.
It doesn’t matter what I think because I concentrate on the holdings. If I did otherwise I would have been out of this business decades ago.
What follows for the next few paragraphs is stock text that I present occasionally.
The bullish percent is the number of stocks that have bullish patterns, nothing more, nothing less. It is calculated by counting the bullish charts, and dividing that number by the number of stocks in a sector/market. Then multiply by 100 to get the percentage. A key item to remember is that all stocks that have traded for some time will be either bullish or bearish, not both.
This week saw the opposite of last week. This past week two of three bullish percent indicators fell despite the market averages going up.. WEALTH ACCUMULATION strategies are in effect for investors at this time.
Remember, Xs mean OFFENSE or wealth accumulation, while Os mean DEFENSE, or wealth preservation.
On a general note: The Federal Reserve announced that December Industrial Production rose 1.6%. That was more than triple the 0.5% level anticipated by economists. Utility output led the way with a gain of 6.2% over November’s number. Mining output rose 1.6% during December. Overall output was 3.6% less than December 2019. Capacity utilization was 74.5%, up from November’s 73.4%.