2021 was a good year for the market! In general up 20%. Not bad. Who would have thought a pandemic would be good for the stock market?
Here's how the major indexes performed:
A few visuals to show the year.
S&P
NASDAQ
DOW
BitCoin to US Dollar
This past week was a downer, it just seemed the bad news wouldn't stop. Delta variants, Afghanistan pull out blunder, and tropical storm Henri! Maybe it's just me, but I am getting tired.
From a stage analysis point of view, things appear
to be okay. Some of the indexes are flirting with their 30 week moving
average lines, but are still above the line.
Interesting bitcoin news:
https://news.bitcoin.com/jpmorgan-wells-fargo-launching-bitcoin-funds-sec-filings/
From a stage analysis viewpoint, we are in Stage 2 Accumulation (see stage analysis overview here) with the market continuing to go up.
One of the gauges I like to look at is the Dow vs NYSE Advance-Decline. (Barron's used to produce it but stopped so I make my own chart.) It's a bad sign for the market when the Dow is advancing more than the NYSE, which we see in March of 2020 when COVID hit. Likewise, it's a positive sign when the NYSE is above the Dow. That's where we are now. It's one of the biggest divergences I've seen in a while.
Stories of interest:
Market continue to be in an uptrend. All indicators remain up. Jobless claims are going down and with the COVID vaccine being distributed the economy looks to be poised for a recovery. I am interested in energy and travel stocks.
XLE Spider is showing signs of recovery and has a ways to go to get to the last high. Even with the move to electronic vehicles we will still need energy for years to come.
An interesting set of news articles surfaced this week related to the COVID outbreak's potential source being the Wuhon Lab. Vanity Fair has a nice article here.
Bitcoin has been a bit of a ride these last couple of weeks as Elon Musk is in then out.
Markets are mixed. The NASDAQ touched it's 30 week moving average line but finished just a hair above it. Gold is starting to move up a bit and the other averages are still above their 30 week moving average line.
CNN's Fear and Greed indicator is in Fear for the first time in quite awhile.
Crypto currencies continue to be in the news with lots and lots of speculation. We also saw a major hack into a US pipeline with a payment of $5M coinage to the bad guys.
COVID news is also mixed. Countries with the vaccine are doing okay while others are struggling.
March is turning out to be a good month for investments and at this time all indicators are up.
Bitcoin continues to reach all time highs. Fidelity is considering launching a bitcoin ETF.
Gold is officially in stage 4.
COVID vaccinations are underway and the one does J&J shot is finally being delivered and administered.
