A better than expected jobs report pushed overbought conditions to extremes, leaving the Weekly ETF Rewind looking as extended as I have ever seen it. While this may be suggestive of an imminent pause or retrace, it is also emblematic of the persistent strength that this market has shown, and I'll frankly be more surprised than not if we don't see a near-term breakout of the S&P 500 to match its major index brethren at new bull-market highs. In fact, the strong week left the S&P 500 (SPY) and Russell 2000 (IWM) higher by +3.2% and +6.1%, respectively.

(Click Image to Enlarge/ ETF Rewind Glossary)

Here we can see that stock index performance thus far in 2010 has been quite mixed. Small cap issues in the U.S., as represented by the Russell 2000 Index (IWM; above) have outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPY), but both are up on the year. The NASDAQ 100 Index (QQQQ) thus far is flat on the year.

Interestingly, however, all the U.S. indexes have outperformed Europe, Australasia, and the Far East (EFA) and emerging markets (EEM). With firmness in the dollar, strength in U.S. Treasuries, and relative strength among U.S. stocks, it appears that, for now, the U.S. is acting as a relative safe haven for global investors.

If you’re like me, you get a whole lot of financial e-junk… spam filter or not. Yet one marketing pitch for an e-letter did sneak into my “Must Read” box last week.

Here’s a brief synopsis from the sales plug: