Used with permission.
A Half Empty Glass
Posted: 19 Dec 2011 10:50 PM PST
Market participants came to their senses last week, choosing to look at the European glass as half-empty rather than the previous Friday's half-full. Tuesday's outside day, while not on convincing volume, neatly put the coup de gras on the late-Nov/early-Dec rally attempt.
This was followed by the action of the past few days, in which each session closed on the soggy side. Last week's change of heart on the part of participants appeared to be a case of buy-the-rumor-sell-the-news. The much-ballyhooed fiscal pact among the various EU members initially produced a substantial, 1.9% Nasdaq advance two Friday's ago.
But the next session, last Monday, saw participants unloading anything risk-oriented, from shares to copper to coal to gold to the euro, aussie, kiwi, and looney. As usual, the dollar and Treasurys benefited.
The implication of the move to risk-off - especially the comedown in gold - is that the ECB will not engage in quantitative easing, global growth will decelerate, and deflation concerns will dominate.
Meanwhile, all of this would be expected to douse leading growth stocks in more red ink. As things turned out, a few caught a bid on Friday, as the below charts indicate. . . . To continue reading, please click here.
Fund Prices2024-04-16
Fund | Price | Day | YTD |
G | $18.19 | 0.01% | 1.24% |
F | $18.58 | -0.32% | -3.33% |
C | $79.08 | -0.21% | 6.34% |
S | $76.95 | -0.41% | -0.18% |
I | $40.73 | -0.98% | 1.37% |
L2065 | $15.67 | -0.50% | 3.66% |
L2060 | $15.67 | -0.50% | 3.67% |
L2055 | $15.68 | -0.50% | 3.67% |
L2050 | $31.50 | -0.44% | 2.93% |
L2045 | $14.38 | -0.41% | 2.81% |
L2040 | $52.59 | -0.38% | 2.72% |
L2035 | $13.91 | -0.35% | 2.60% |
L2030 | $46.37 | -0.32% | 2.50% |
L2025 | $12.95 | -0.18% | 1.90% |
Linc | $25.31 | -0.14% | 1.64% |