A Look at Monday’s Activity:

The overall market moved sharply higher on Monday in a broad based move that saw every index I track move higher on the day with the exception of the Semiconductors.  The strongest sectors were the Banking,  Insurance,  Oil & Gas, Natural Gas,  Chemicals, Commodities, Airlines,  Broker/Dealers, Cyclicals, Transports, and Retailers.  Oil was higher by $0.39 to $80.24 per barrel, and Gold was lower by $45.00 to $1,592.70 per ounce.  It should be noted that Gold is lower by just over $213 per ounce in the last 3 trading days.  Wheat was higher by $0.074 to $6.482 per bushel, and Corn was higher by $0.094 to $6.48 per bushel, while Soybeans were $0.016 to $12.596 per bushel.

A Few Thoughts Before the Open:

In looking at the charts of the indices I track from yesterday’s trading activity, many of them remain in oversold territory.  Also, despite the strong move upwards yesterday, only a small handful of sector indices managed to reach their 9-day moving average. I would consider yesterday’s move to be anything more than a bounce from last week’s selloff.

As of the writing of this blog,  the pre-market futures are signalling a positive open.  However, I remain cautious on declaring any sort of a market rally following a couple of days of upside movement.  Remember, a trend remains in place until it is broken; and as of right now I see the market trending sideways.  We are far short of a breakout to the upside, and until then I don’t see any reason to get excited.