Stock Market Blog -Dec 15th

The market pulled back this week as was expected by many. Next week we could see it resume the up-trend (or not), as the last Fed meeting for the year winds down on Wednesday. There is so much anticipation for this meeting that it could turn out to be a big yawn. We also get earnings next week from NKE, FDX, and ORCL, and finally Options expiration for the month and the quarter on Friday. TWTR saw a huge rally this week.

Futures: Bonds have been crushed this year, along with Gold, and to some extent Oil. Nat Gas on the other hand has rallied nicely. Coffee sank, as it did the prior year -time for a rally I think. Sugar, like Coffee, has been in a downward spiral too.

Coffee and Sugar have been crushed over the past 2 years!

New all time highs:    ADBE, KORS, NLSN, TWTR, V
All time lows:   FIO

Pops:  MA, SYY      Drops:   ORCL

Next week:  Economic reports , Fed meeting

Earnings:  DFS, FDX, NKE, ORCL, WAG

Market Commentary

The Budget talks came and went almost without notice! So much for that market moving event. Next week's market moving event will be the Fed announcement on Wednesday. Also the final Quarterly Options expiration for 2013 on Friday. From a 'technical' standpoint, the S&P500 is at a support level here and could break in either direction. If the market continues to act like it has on previous pullbacks, we will see it rally from this level.

MA announced a 10 for 1 stock split this week -could this be the first of more to come? AAPL, AMZN, CMG, GOOG, NFLX, PCLN?

This week's charts:

S&P 500 -will it bounce back up to the top?
10yr Interest Rates
Labor Force Participation Rate (10yr chart)

Commodities/Futures (charts):
Crude Oil dropped, closing near $96.60 -holding under $100
Natural Gas was up again, closing near $4.35
Gold recovered a bit, closing at $1234
The 30 year Bond continued to drop, closing near $129.65
The US Dollar was mostly unchanged, closing near 80.37

NEWS:

U.S. Stocks Post Worst Week Since August on Fed Concern
Why Fed could rock market no matter what it does
After massive rally, will shorts finally win?
Share prices are soaring, but splits aren't coming back
Forget Apple, Google…this is Nasdaq 2.0
Facebook to be added to S&P 500

VIX Trader Buys $5.1 Million in Calls to Bet on 50% Increase
There is no bubble; markets just don’t work anymore
Budget Deal Passed By House, Heads To Senate
Experts predict a gold bounce soon—here’s why