Weekly ETF Rewind: Cause for a Pause?

Lest we get too excited here, a fourth week of gains that left the S&P500 (SPY) up another +3.2% really just has the indices back to early February levels. Among the majors, Emerging Markets (EEM) posted the healthiest rise of +6.8%, while domestically the greatest strength was shown in the Small Caps, as represented by the Russell 2000 (IWM), up +6.4%. Meanwhile, Real Estate (IYR) managed a whopping gain of +15.6%, even as Precious Metals (DBP) continued to soften, down -3.4%.

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With fewer economic reports, week fifteen of 2009 will be focused on the advent of first quarter earnings season, commencing with Alcoa Tuesday evening, as follows:

• Yahoo! - U.S. Economic Calendar
• Yahoo! - U.S. Earnings Calendar

News flow and economic reports were really mixed at best last week, culminating in the 8.5% unemployment rate report (AP - Unemployment Soars) (WSJ - Easing Rules) (Bloomberg - G20/ECB Cut). The news was nonetheless well digested by a welcome return of a bullish "buying the dips" behavior on the turnaround anticipation trade. That said, this week's table is now virtually screaming overbought across multiple time frames. Will this next holiday shortened week provide pause to the markets' historic come back?

This article marks my five-hundred-first post. Thank you for all your support over the last two years and -- Enjoy your Weekend!

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