US financial markets will be closed on Monday, January 19, in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. When trading resumes on Tuesday, don’t be surprised if the indexes trend lower. As you can see on this chart courtesy of Sentiment Trader, the days immediately following MLK Jr tend to have a negative bias – at least between 1998 and 2011. Last year the S&P 500 lost 2.6% during MLK Jr week.
Thinking about refinancing your mortgage? Well, according to Bespoke’s new “Countdown to Liftoff” indicator you have 9.96 months before the Federal Reserve starts raising interest rates. Their estimate takes into account, among other factors, Fed Funds futures contracts. Fed Futures contracts are interest rate contracts that give Wall Street traders an opportunity to bet on the direction, timing and extent of future Fed movements on rates.
If 2014’s market performance left you scratching your head, Josh Brown’s article in Fortune magazine, “2014: The year that nothing worked,” is a must read.
♦ Please note that my readings will change without notice, so please don’t buy or sell solely based on anything you read in this blog. ♦
Bull Bear Barometer 