Stock Market update: Stock Market Update -Apr 5th

The market continued its upward trend for the fourth week in a row, in spite of the bad news reported Friday on job losses for March, with the unemployment rate now at 8.5%. New unemployment claims for the week came in over 600,000 again (more than 8 consecutive weeks now, and since last October, more than 500,000 each week). Meanwhile the debt clock on the left races along at a faster pace, now over $11.1 trillion!

The much talked about 'mark to market' rules were relaxed by FASB this week, though it didn't seem to provide much of a boost to the Financial stocks. Of the four major indexes (DOW, NASDAQ, S&P500, Russell 2000), the Russell 2000 is leading the rally (smaller companies). IBM has been the leader for the year in the DOW index.

Commodities: Oil prices are holding above $50 per barrel, Gold prices continue to lose ground, while the US Dollar also lost some ground. Grain prices also rose this week (Corn, Soybeans, Wheat).

Next week kicks off earnings reports for the first quarter. It's also right before Easter and Passover, so it could be a slow week, with the markets being closed on Friday.

Market analysis: The current rally could eventually take us up to the Jan 6th high of 943 on the S&P 500, and 9088 on the DOW, with some pullbacks along the way. This week we could see one of those pullbacks, providing a opportunity to add to short term positions -remember however that we are still in a bear market! The short term target on the S&P is around 875, the February high.