U.S. Market Wrap and Forecast for Tuesday

Major benchmarks popped up to new highs at the start of Monday’s U.S. session but conviction was low, yielding a slow motion downtick that got bought over the noon hour. SP-500 Volatility Index (VIX) gained about 2% despite higher equity prices, signaling nervousness about the endless uptick. Even so, the U.S. government is about to send citizens another barrel of greenbacks, just in time to reload slumping Robinhood accounts.

No Love For FAANG Stocks

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) failed a symmetrical triangle breakout last week and is consolidating near the February low, about to enter the eighth month of dead sideways action. There’s a lot of ‘dead’ money hanging around big tech stocks these days, with more aggressive capital rotating into fintech, EV plays, and SPACs. The GameStop ‘event’ hasn’t helped traditional buying interest, unnerving many risk-adverse bulls.

Other tech stocks gained ground on Monday, lifting shares of NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD). However, PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) looks like its grinding through a corrective pattern that could roll over and test the January low at any time. Twitter Inc. (TWTR), General Motors Co. (GM), and Walt Disney Co. (DIS) posted strong upside as well, which is more bearish than bullish headed into their mid-week reports.

Looking Ahead to Mid-Week

Partisan politics could control price action through mid-week, with an impeachment trial and its foregone conclusion feeling like a waste of time during stimulus negotiations. In addition, the rally is getting ‘long in the tooth’, raising odds for a multiweek reversal that ‘sticks’. The Nasdaq-100 index tested or crossed the 200-day EMA five times in 2019 but just once in 2020 and it’s now been 10 months since that instrument shook out weak hands.

This week’s economic calendar is light as a feather, with the CPI report on Wednesday and UMich Sentiment on Friday. Neither is likely to move bond or equity markets, allowing macro influences to control the ticker tape. The upcoming holiday weekend in the United States could impact trading later in thes week, with a well-documented positive bias likely to support higher prices. Even so, a contrarian would say that clear blue skies foretell ominous dark clouds.

For a look at all of this week’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.