The U.S. indexes finished a choppy Tuesday with minor losses. The S&P 500 dropped 0.13% and NASDAQ 0.03%; this despite yet another warning by FedEx (FDX) - the second in as many weeks. Energy and materials (most commodities ex precious metals), housing and retail continued to sell off after a huge rise late last week, while money rotated into more safe sectors such as healthcare and consumer staples. This sort of rotation is a positive as it shows that money is not in the complete "risk on" OR "risk off" mode seen much of the summer. Housing continues to be a "relative" bright spot in the economy - a bevy of reports will hit tomorrow but today we had a sentiment survey:
- the National Association of Home Builders said home builders' confidence rose to its highest level in more than six years in September, marking its fifth consecutive gain.
Looking at the indexes on a longer term time frame we see the S&P 500 has been engaged in two ascending channels sandwiching a rough period in April and May.
The NASDAQ has a similar look but perhaps more choppy, as it was singing the tune of Apple.
Let's also take a look at gold as it continues to act in a very constructive fashion, but not yet at yearly highs:
Last , per Sentimentrader.com it appears a lot of money in the option pits is looking for more upside in the weeks ahead:
