Frazier Allen: When Will the Market Make a New High?

Clarksville, TN – The equity market remains mired in a troubled spot. Trading over the past 30 days saw a meager counter-trend rally of +4.3% on a closing basis. A decline of just under 6% quickly ensued and pushed the S&P 500 to new closing (1829) and intra-day (1810) lows.

Lower highs and lower lows are not a good outcome for the bulls. For the very near term, a counter-trend rally is possible due to oversold internals. However, with plentiful amounts of overhead resistance, a new high for the market does not seem plausible any time soon.

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Second Quarter ends Strong, but Investors remain Cautious

Clarksville, TN – While the markets managed solid gains over the last three months, investors continue to measure their enthusiasm as the U.S. economy maintains a less-than-robust growth trend heading into the second half of the year.

After a hesitant start to 2014, the markets gained momentum as the winter doldrums gave way to slow spring growth. But ever-present concerns over the Fed’s imminent move to wind down its quantitative easing program and eventually raise rates again have kept stock market euphoria at bay.

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Stocks up despite U.S. Government Budget Impasse

The third quarter of the year proved quite eventful.

The Federal Reserve opted to wait a little longer before beginning to dial back its bond purchases, and a budgetary showdown in D.C. resulted in a partial government shutdown on the same day the private healthcare exchanges mandated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) opened.

Political tensions arose over whether to defund or delay major provisions of the ACA.

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