Tuesday, December 22, 2009, 8:34PM ET - U.S. Markets Closed.

What a Difference a Week Makes: Now, All News Is "Good" for Stocks

Posted Nov 06, 2009 02:27pm EST by Aaron Task in Investing
After an initial dive following the release of the October employment report, the stock market rebounded Friday morning and was holding steady above 10,000 mid-afternoon.

Barring any late-day drama, Friday is shaping up to be a good proxy for the week: volatile, but with an upward bias.

The week provided yet another reminder of how negative sentiment continues to dominate. As you may recall, the market fell hard last Friday and there were a lot of people predicting stocks would suffer further this week, if not outright crash on Monday; or that, certainly, the rally had breathed its last.

From a contrarian perspective, this prevailing negativity is a bullish sign, as Wells Capital's Jim Paulsen told Tech Ticker.

As Henry and I discuss in the accompanying video, the stock market is now overvalued again after having become undervalued at the March lows, which may keep the Dow tethered near the 10,000 mark. But many stocks were priced last spring as if their future earnings would be somewhere between zero and nada, and the market is rewarding those firms showing signs of life. The "better-than-expected" earnings story continued this week with results from Cisco, Starbucks and Merck among the highlights; heck, even AIG posted a surprising profit although the infamous insurer warned it expects "continued volatility" in the coming quarters.

Meanwhile, M&A activity is heating up again and Friday brought upgrades of GE and Amazon.com, which helped give major averages a lift.

With the Fed stating clearly this week it plans to keep its foot on the liquidity gas pedal for the foreseeable future, the market seems to have entered a zone where both good news and bad news are treated as bullish, which is very bad news for the long-suffering bears.

142 Comments

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Friday November 06, 2009 02:36PM EST

Enough with all this yapping. Buy this afternoon or you'll miss out!

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Friday November 06, 2009 02:37PM EST

News, or earnings do not drive the stock market! Social mood does. Market rallied since March in the midst of worst news and earnings. Do not be surprised if it tumbles while the news are good! Check it out: http://www.tradingstocks.net/html/earnings_drive_stocks.html

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Friday November 06, 2009 02:40PM EST

Social mood drives the markets and the economy. This is why the stock market goes up first, and the economy recovers later! This is why you cannot make money chasing the news. By the time the good news are in, the buying opportunity will be gone. Then at the top it will be good news all over. Learn about what drives the markets: http://www.tradingstocks.net/html/socionomics.html

Helga
Helga - Friday November 06, 2009 02:42PM EST

MARKET IS MOODISH AS A HORMONE PUMPED LOVE SPURNED TEENAGER......FOLKS; I ONCE LIVED IN A VIOLENT OFFENDERS MENTAL INSTITUTION THAT CLOSER RESEMBLED A BUDDHIST MONASTERY THAN THIS MARKET....

The Truth
The Truth - Friday November 06, 2009 02:42PM EST

Next stop, Dow 11,000. All aboard.

The Truth
The Truth - Friday November 06, 2009 02:43PM EST

Next stop, Dow 11,000. All aboard!

Free Texas 2012
Free Texas 2012 - Friday November 06, 2009 02:44PM EST

I wonder how many banks will be closed today.

Henry
Henry - Friday November 06, 2009 02:50PM EST

The Dow has STRONG upside Resistance at Dow 10,500 and downside Support at Dow 8,500 ------------------- ------------------------ to see why go to DAYTRADERESEARCH.COM ------------------- We should see a downside correction in this market within 30 days or less ------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------and in 3 to 6 months from tomorrow (11/7/09) (probably less time than that) you should see buying opportunities (for Traders) at below Dow 9000 (See DowJonesResearcher.com) The Dow has STRONG upside Resistance at Dow 10,500 and downside Support at Dow 8,500 ------------------- ------------------------ to see why go to DAYTRADERESEARCH.COM ------------------- We should see a downside correction in this market within 30 days or less ------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------and in 3 to 6 months from tomorrow (11/7/09) (probably less time than that) you should see buying opportunities (for Traders) at below Dow 9000 (See DowJonesResearcher.com) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- you heard it first here on Tech Ticker

san
san - Friday November 06, 2009 02:50PM EST

This dip is different, it's weaker, watchout S&P 1070 if it turns at resistance there, it will be a right shoulder.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Friday November 06, 2009 02:57PM EST

real salary is also dropping fast http://www.salarylist.com Free money enriched Wall Street, stripped from Main Street. Win, money mine, loss, you save me, I cannot fail

hatchett man
hatchett man - Friday November 06, 2009 03:01PM EST

The sky is falling!!! Buy gold!! Buy Silver!!! Or become a U.S Representative or Senator!!! Actually I'm not too sure about gold and silver!!! But I am about Congressmen!!!

BobDiaz
BobDiaz - Friday November 06, 2009 03:05PM EST

It's going to go through LOTS of ups and down before we can hope for a full recovery. However, if one is willing to wait it out, in a few years things will be a lot better. On the other hand, a war in the Middle East or some other unexpected thing, could really screw things up. ...

The Truth
The Truth - Friday November 06, 2009 03:06PM EST

Dow 11,000. For the good of the country. That's the way the current administration looks at it. Get onboard or regret it. You can decide what your next move is after we get there, but for goodness sake, trust me that we will see Dow 11,000 before the big downturn everyone is talking about. And it will happen between now and April 2010.////////////////Print this comment and pin it up in your home, office or cube. And sometime between now and April you can either write in to thank me, or to write something else that is not as nice. But I know that you will be thanking me.

__A_YAHOO_USER__
__A_YAHOO_USER__ - Friday November 06, 2009 03:07PM EST

says who?

thomasromancer
thomasromancer - Friday November 06, 2009 03:11PM EST

The markets are like gambling. Good gamblers do pretty well. The rest of the gamblers are the ones who build the huge casinos with all their glitter and lights. Everyone goes to the casinos because the are constant reminders of what might be. They somehow forget the more grand the casino, the more lights, the more gambling tables is really a measure of how much money people have lost there. That is how the markets are working on people. There is nothing tangible in the markets. Just flash, someone elses bling and you throwing your money into it hoping to with a big pot.

Polski
Polski - Friday November 06, 2009 03:20PM EST

All good if you Sell? If you buy, Bad, if they drop! When is stock Good?

thomasromancer
thomasromancer - Friday November 06, 2009 03:26PM EST

No Popoy, the difference is that the demand and value of people in the United States has dropped. Where we used to be assets to companies, we are now viewed more as expendable. In California, the state has furloughed employees for three days a month. That is 15% of their annual salary. Guess what, there has been virtually no perceptible loss of service. America has changed from a fix and repair broken entities to a throw away and by new. Too bad we don't make anything so we could buy from an America company. I perform so many processes on my PC that used to require me to go to a location and work with a person in some way to get accomplished. Now most of those processes no longer require people at all. I have not been to the post office for probably more than 6 months. I used to go at least once a week. Even the enterprise systems I work on are designed to automate processes that used to require countless support people. No, people are not a necessary as the once were to society. Especially in a country that doesn't produce anything.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Friday November 06, 2009 03:27PM EST

No one knows anything

william
william - Friday November 06, 2009 03:27PM EST

hey Blodget/Task... are you in yet??? get on the train.. or you're going to miss the next train and there may not be another one for awhile... I know you guys are smart... show it!!! Remember the path to the top is not a straight line or the bottom for that matter....

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Friday November 06, 2009 03:27PM EST

No one knows anything

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