Market Update - 1

Today was an awful day. No doubt about it. S&P 500 down 1.67%, Dow down 1.93%, and Nasdaq down 1.98%. Not sure why because there were positive and negative economic and earnings news. The positives were (1) industrial production continued to be strong. (2) Import prices rose but was within the range of the past couple of years. (3) Foreigners continued to buy U.S. assets at record pace. (4) GE and C had good earnings. The negatives were(1) New York Fed survey plummeted but given its short history, it's difficult to make anything out of it. (2) Michigan sentiment fell but was well within the range of the past year. (3) IBM missed Q1 EPS estimate.

It will be interesting to find out how economic and earnings news play out next week. We'll see if CPI has a suprise in store for us. On the earnings side, about 142 of the S&P500 companies report. A lot can happen. No wonder the VIX is flying off the chart. Looking at the technical indicators, unless something terrible happens, looks like S&P will hover around 1145 – 1160 range (see the chart).