The Stock Market Is Likely Taking Summer Break

S&P-500 Index Drop from May 2 to June 8, 2011

Major stock market indexes slowly went down during the last several weeks, from May 2 to June 8, 2011. Since this decline has already broken a few important technical chart levels, many technical analysts believe that the trend might continue with sideways moves for a few weeks ahead.

Except seasonal reason, this May stock market decline was also caused by fundamental factors. The US corporate profits in the first quarter dropped for the first time in more than two years. The US unemployment rate in May increased from 9.0% to 9.1%. It looks likely that investors overreacted to strong corporate earnings at the beginning of this year. Economists believe that the government stimulus money could have artificially inflated the market. Evidently, without additional money injection the US economy would undergo a transition to a self-sustaining recovery.

From the fundamental point of view it is not clear how precisely the ending of stimulus is reflected in the current market evaluation. So that when the bond-buying program ends at the end of June, the US stock market might reach a more accurate equilibrium. Other surprises might be brought by the second quarter reporting season.

Technology Sector Might Do Well During the Next Three Months

The chart below shows the comparative analysis of expected sectors’ performance for the next three months – April, May, and June of 2011. The 11 sectors (no data for Conglomerates) have been composed of selected more than 500 US and Canadian stocks. Apparently, Technology and Financial sectors look the best:

The chart has been calculated using Investment Analyzer InvAn-4. The calculation is based on a rank of stocks. Sector ranks distribution allows making comparative analysis of sectors’ ratings (sectors are formed from the stocks recorded in InvAn-4 internal database). The highest ranked stocks are expected to be the most probable best performers within the next three-month period. Stocks are ranked on the basis of the composite rating which is a combination of fundamental, technical, and timing ratings. Such combination allows realistic modeling the quality of a company and its stock in the market.

February Is the Month of a Slight Correction

With positive US earnings forecast for this year, 2011 is set to be one of the best years after the recession. Additionally, it is a good stock market timing of the presidential election cycle. According to many experts, this bull market will have more room to run. On the negative side, the US economy still remains too weak to help a high unemployment rate. Although the economy is improving, it is a slow recovery. Besides, this year the US government’s deficit might surge to a record $1.5 trillion.

S&P-500 reached a 2.5-year high level and now there is no much pressure to push the market down. However, bad economic or market-related news might easily cause a short-term correction. Another trigger could be a continuing downtrend of Indian Market that is currently already at a several-month low level. From the technical analysis view, according to the last 10-year S&P-500 statistics, February is the month of a slight correction.

Chart shows 10-year S&P-500 index statistics of monthly performance (calculated by Stock Market Predictor SMAP-3)