"As January goes, so goes the year", "Gld, UGL, CEF, AGQ, SLV, FXE, EWZ, EEM, VWO"

Whether people follow their normal pattern and pump money into stocks in January can be a sign of the market’s prospects for the coming weeks, and even for the entire year. If stocks rise in January, they often finish the year strongly. If stocks are weak during this normally propitious time, stocks tend to do poorly. January 2012 finished 4.3% up (for SP500) .. Let that thought be in the background while making the decisions this year ..


With Q4 2011 Earnings results and outlooks not so euphoric, the European issues are dictating the trends in the markets. US equities correlating to the tunes of Euro/USD rates. Gold also benefiting immensely from Dollar decline. 


Technically, the equity indexes are almost retesting the highs of 2011 July. So if nothing else, expect a brief pull back or consolidation for technical reasons. The short term overbought conditions and a splendid January performance might suggest some sluggishness in February.


Last week's (week over week) market Sectors Returns and Internals:

SP 500:  0.08%

• Volatility Index % change, VIX = -3.4%
• Short term bond rate (average of 3 year and 5 year) = 0.535%
• 10 year Treasury yield = 1.93%
• Small Cap (IWM): 1.88%
• Latin America (ILF): 1.12%
• Europe (IEV): 1.47%
• Emerging Markets (EEM): 2.37%
• 
  
• Commodities (DBC): 2.85%
• Long term Bonds (TLT): 0.94%
• US Dollar Index, 8 DMA: 79.75
• Gold, (GLD) change: 4.26%
•  
• Put/Call Ratio, total of equity/Index = 0.88
• Bull/Bear Ratio, Investors Intelligence survey = 
• NYSE (New Highs - New lows), 8 DMA = 192.28

Next Week's economic calendar:

• PCE Prices - 1/30
• Chicago PMI, Consumer Confidence - 1/31
• ISM index, Auto sales - 2/1
• Unemployment rate - 2/3