The strong close on Friday sends a message to those trying to stoke a pullback – keep tight stops on your short position. Of course, they won’t because shorts die with their boots on and must be carried out on their shields. Somehow, they manage to secure more funding and always have allies in the financial media who urge disaster.  They seemed to be gaining control midweek, but then the buy-the-dip crowd made its move.

Heat Map

The Friday heat map is an ideal blueprint for how this market could continue to rally for the rest of the year, with buying rotation within the Mag Seven, where the new darlings include Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN).

The pullback in Costco's (COST) share price is a friendly reminder that it's not easy to pass on higher costs to consumers still reeling from the inflation spike that accompanied the surge in “free” money.

Bottom fishers are active and looking for value in beaten-down cyclicals.

Market breadth

The S&P 500 saw 85% advancers, which in turn will act as a lure to attract more buyers.  Interestingly, NASDAQ struggled, and I suspect that’s more about profit-taking.

Here They Come

The March of the Wooden Soldiers is a fantastic scene in The Nutcracker, but the March of the Fed Talking Heads might not be so merry this week.