Last week we began to analyze the market rally on a sector-by-sector basis. My reasoning for doing this was to see if we were indeed in a new bull market. If we are, we should have seen that market breadth was increasing (meaning more sectors joining in the rally as it continued). If we are not, we would see that fewer and fewer sectors were participating in the rally as it went higher: implying that this is a bear market bounce.

So far, what we’ve found is that more than half the sectors we’ve analyzed have failed to make new highs in November. To recap, here are the sectors we’ve already looked at:
Today we’ll complete our sector-by-sector analysis. So let’s get started…

Perhaps you are looking for a bargain near the market’s 52-week highs, or maybe you’re preparing to make a purchase on the next tangible pullback.

Well, then, you might choose to avoid investments that are more volatile than a global stock benchmark. And you definitely want to jettison the idea of picking up an ETF that’s below a long-term trendline.

The U.S. housing market, after having been battered and bruised during the recent recession, had staged an impressive recovery in recent months as belief that the market has finally hit bottom seemed to gain support. But new data reveals the true fragility of the housing recovery, and indicates that the potential for a “double dip” in this industry is very real.

New home construction fell sharply in October, as housing starts declined 10.6% compared to the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 529,000. When compared to last October, the results reflect a disastrous 30.6% drop. The steep decline came as a surprise to many analysts who had been anticipating an uptick for the month. The surprise loss shows the true impact that uncertainty over whether Congress would extend the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers beyond its initial November 30 deadline.