The Dow retreated 139 points today despite continued growth in sales.
Fundamentals
Better than expected sales data today failed to overcome continued bad news from the Euro zone. This, along with the fact there is but one more full trading day before the New Year long weekend, caused investors to rush back for the safety of bonds once again, depressing bond yields strongly across the board. However, with the current trend of better than expected economic performance, we could see a very encouraging first quarter of 2012 as long as the Euro doesn't blow up. Yes, it is still a matter of time the Euro mess gets resolved painfully in my opinion.
Technicals
The Dow retreated today as I have expected on retreating volume as it retests the integrity of the recent breakout. In fact, the Dow could remain around this area for the rest of the week as volume retreats and investors get ready for the new year. It seems like Santa Claus isn't visiting the market this year afterall.
For now, the Dow remains in short term bull trend within an intermediate term neutral trend and primary bull trend.
