A beautiful pre-spring snow is falling as I write this in Delaware. It's my favorite kind of snow. Large fluffy flakes that are lovely to watch but have little chance of accumulating on the roads.
But I'm updating you on Delaware weather for a good reason.
You see, this relates directly to the markets today. Why?
Because just Thursday, it was 70 flippin' degrees here. It was gorgeous! I was shooting hoops on my basketball court out back in shorts...
I was hoping for another day like that. What I got is a pretty snowfall that I would have appreciated much more in December than in the middle of March.
Which is the same way I feel about the markets today.
The data tells me we should be up and up big today. And yet, as I write this, we're drifting right back down toward a flat day.
Let me explain why this is as perplexing as the snow hitting my basketball court...
The Data Say "Yeah!" but the Markets Say... "Meh"
On Wednesday, we got a killer-good employment number from payroll firm ADP showing 298,000 new private-sector jobs added in February.
And these weren't just any jobs - construction and professional-business new hires were leading the charge. High-paying jobs grew faster than lower-paying service sector jobs.
I told Neil Cavuto on his FOX Business show, "Cavuto Coast-to-Coast," that the market wasn't getting overly ramped up by that number because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) number was a more important one and that these numbers confirmed the Fed's current higher interest rate stance. Besides, keeping interest rates artificially low when economic data is improving can lead to rapid inflation.
So when this morning's BLS employment number came out and was generally good, that should have been a major positive for the markets, especially now that good news is good news once again.
Combine that with the fact that we've had the first down week in almost two months, and I would expect today to be a nice rebound day.
Didn't happen.
Now, you'd think when really good economic news like this comes out and the markets can't mount a rally, that I'd reorient my narrative toward the down side.
But I'm not ready to go there just yet.
Here's why...
Oil.
Oil has gotten crushed this week. And the energy sector is such a big economic player that the effect of significantly weaker crude oil prices has put a price drag on the whole market. It's like a ship trying to steam ahead with its anchor dropped in the water behind it.
And yet there's good news for Stealth Profits Traders (that's been a theme for a long time - keep sending me your success stories!). While the markets flounder around breakeven, both of our newest trades are up big after just a day, 2.5% and 3%.
And until our narrative changes, I'm all about buying strong stocks on these weak pullbacks.
D.R.'s Stealth Profits Trader readers are enjoying their 16th triple-digit gain since the start of 2017. Click here to learn more about how to subscribe.
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About the Author
D.R. Barton, Jr., Technical Trading Specialist for Money Map Press, is a world-renowned authority on technical trading with 25 years of experience. He spent the first part of his career as a chemical engineer with DuPont. During this time, he researched and developed the trading secrets that led to his first successful research service. Thanks to the wealth he was able to create for himself and his followers, D.R. retired early to pursue his passion for investing and showing fellow investors how to build toward financial freedom.