First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 15,426.3, -72.6, -0.4%
- S&P 500: 1,691.9, -5.5, -0.3%
- NASDAQ: 3,660.9, -8.1, -0.2%
And now, the top stories:
- It was a quiet end to a quiet week. There were no major market-moving economic reports or earnings announcements worth mentioning. But there was some interesting commentary from the analyst community.
- UBS's Art Cashin reflected on a market phenomenon that occured on Thursday, which has him a bit nervous. "So yesterday, as I watched the yields on bonds move lower despite a mediocre auction, I re-examined the pattern," he said. "What could cause stocks and yields and the dollar to all weaken simultaneously? One possibility might be a real weakening of the economy. That certainly would weaken yields and the dollar as the Fed would abandon tapering."
- JP Morgan's Tom Lee shared an interesting anecdote that may give you reason to be bullsh."[A]t a large group lunch earlier this week with 80 or so wealth advisors, we heard how most individual investors are spectators in the equity markets, having a greater share of their assets in bonds, particularly munis – apparently, stocks are for “other people” (who want to take the risk)," he said. "In our view, sentiment tends to have contrarian implications – that is, if investors are generally (anecdotally) cautious, this suggests that a lot of the negatives are already reflected in current prices. Consequently, as much as investors are concerned about a potential pullback (which we acknowledge is possible), the current caution suggests better implied risk/reward."
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