Stock Market Blog -Apr 1st

This week the market was kind of sideways, as we closed out the best quarterly performance for stocks in 14 years. With any luck, the second quarter will also be a positive one, but after such a huge rally which started in December, the market is long overdue for some kind of pause. The Bond market meanwhile continues to be weak, but could rally if we get a dip in stocks.

Gold seems to be forming a base in the 1650 area, where it acted in a similar fashion last October before rallying again. The US Dollar has dropped to near the 78-79 level, and could start moving up again, which generally hurts stock prices. Also adding pressure to stock prices is rising gas prices. Lastly, Natural Gas prices continue to plummet.

This was a monster quarter for stocks like AAPL, IBM, AMLN, BAC, AAP, ORLY, CMG, MNST, DKS, LULU, HD, SPG, MA, V, FFIV, RVBD, VMW, LNKD, PCLN, ROST, TJX, SBUX, YUM, TSCO, etc. AAPL pulled back $20 from the high this week.

New all time highs:   DISCA, EQIX, FDO, IBM, MNST, ORLY, PM, SBUX, SPG, TJX,
All time lows:  FAZ, QID, SDS, TZA -the usual suspects! Also TVIX
Pops:  LIZ
Drops: BBY

Next week: Economic reports
Monthly Jobs report at the end of the week. The stock market is closed on Friday -Happy Easter to all.

Market Commentary

We did get a rally to finish off the quarter! My comment last week: "This week's pullback might be a set-up for another rally into the end of the quarter."

Now we look forward to the Jobs report next week, and the start of earnings season the following week to kick off the second quarter. I expect we'll see a pullback from this huge 1st quarter rally at some point.

This week's charts:
Weekly Unemployment claims
S&P 500 -a pullback or consolidation next week?
Gold


Commodities/Futures (charts):
Oil prices were down again, closing near $103.02
Natural Gas keeps dropping, closing near $2.12
Gold recovered a bit, closing near $1672
30 year Bond futures were up, then dropped on Friday, closing near $137.75
The US Dollar dropped a bit, closing near 79.14

NEWS:
U.S. stocks notch best first quarter since 1998
Wall Street looks to extend the rally into April
As Market Heads Into April, 'Where Is the Pullback?'
Why The Rally In Stocks May Come To An End During Q2
U.S. job growth seen tapering off slightly
VXX Will Not Repeat TVIX's 60% Drop, But Holders Should Sell Into Any Rally

Credit card processor hit by hackers
Why I'm Convinced We're Still In A Bull Market For Gold
Euro Rises as EU Ministers Boost Crisis Firewall
Next Up: Spanish Bailout?
10 Reasons Why The Reign Of The Dollar As The World Reserve Currency Is About To Come To An End