Jobs were the main impetus for all the indexes jumping higher this Friday. The Dow pushed the market direction more than 1% to above 1400 for the first time since 2007 wiping out all the losses from the 2008 – 2009 collapse. US unemployment added another 157,000 jobs in January and 2012 was revised to show an additional one third of a million more jobs were added. Unemployment pushed up to 7.9% as more people were back looking for jobs in January.
Other reports also pushed the market direction back up including US construction up 0.9 percent in December and the Institute for Supply Management’s index rose to 53.1 percent in January from 50.2 per cent in December which was the highest level since April. Add to that consumer sentiment up from 72.9 in December to 73.8 in January and the market direction took off from the open.
These are big moves for the stock markets and with money continuing to pour into stocks February should make for an interesting month.
Market Direction Intraday 5 minute S&P 500 chart
The big jump back above 1500 is obvious in the 5 minute chart. The question for the close will be if the S&P 500 will close at the highs, which would be a great bullish sign.
Market Direction Intraday Feb 1 2013
Bears Throwing In The Towel?
The dramatic push higher in January and the start of February has a lot of bears wondering what is happening. Many are starting to throw in the towel as it were which could actually be a poor sign.
Market Direction and VIX Index
The big jump in market direction plummeted the VIX Index. Many analysts I heard speaking today called this a short covering rally. I don’t think so. I do believe investors are back buying as they think the US economy will be stronger than economists forecast.
As market direction jumped the VIX Index retreated
Market Direction Outlook And Strategy
The market direction outlook for going into the close in to see if the markets can close on the highs. The chance that this is a short covering rally I believe is nonsense. There is always some short covering going on, but prices are being pushed too high for this to be nothing more than short covering. My market direction indicators still are looking for signs that this rally will hold into February. I will have a lot at those readings after the market closes. Right now though market direction up remains very strong indeed.
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