Anybody Out There?

The days after Thanksgiving, July 4^th, and Christmas are expected to be quiet, but “Super Bowl Monday” is starting to look like one of those days. US equity futures are little changed this morning, and outside of a merger announcement between Diamondback Energy (FANG) and Endeavor, there’s little in the way of corporate news flow. Economic data? It’s empty.  International markets? It’s been quiet there too as several countries in Asia observe the lunar new year. European markets are open for trading, though, and the tone is generally positive.

Heading into the new week, after starting the year on a down note, the S&P 500 has risen for five straight weeks with gains of more than 1% each week.  At the sector level, just six of eleven sectors are overbought while Utilities is oversold. The biggest gainers last week were Technology, with a gain of over 2.5%, followed by Consumer Discretionary, Health Care, and Industrials, which were all up over 1%. The S&P 500 is up 5.4% on the year. While Communication Services and Technology have been the largest outperformers, Health Care has also moved into the outperformer column while eight sectors are underperforming, including four sectors that are down on the year.

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