I Apologize, I Can't Feel Anything

By Kyle Metivier - January 11, 2012 | Tickers: JPM, PNC, WFC | 0 Comments

• Email
• Print

So the S&P makes it through a technical level. Now what? There are a number of factors that could still have any sort of effect (Europe, China, election chicanery, Tim Tebow), so let’s try and temper the giddiness, shall we? Let’s wait for the all-out market love fest that is bound to occur.

Not so fast. This market just went through a year that saw the S&P start 2011 and end 2011 at an eerily similar level. So it’s like 2011 didn’t happen, right? If you take a poll, there would be a decent number of people who wished that were the case. I know I had my moments, but for the most part, I would have been perfectly fine selling everything before August and sleeping through the entire month.

So scanning the analysts, obviously last year was a bumpy one. While we started 2012 on a positive note, a majority of people are extremely tentative about the momentum. We can only sustain the “wait-and-see” attitude for so long. So where is the leadership?

In an earlier post, I suggested (along with a few thousand analysts) that financials had been beaten down for so long, there was nowhere to go but up. Taking a quick, early snapshot of the sector, it appears everyone was pretty much right. Sweet. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC) have all kept the momentum from three weeks ago into the New Year. From the week ending Dec. 16, all have moved around $5 to the good.

There is definitely room to move higher, but with the overall tentative, “wait-and-see” sentiment that seems to have us running in wet concrete, there may very well be setups at those levels seen three weeks ago. Be patient, find your comfortable striking point and try not to get too wrapped up in what you can’t control. Oh, and don’t rattle the cages of any ratings agencies.

Until next time, from the trading table,

Kyle Metivier

• Email
• Print
• Feedback