Weekend Review April 02, 2017

What looked like a significant break to the downside on Monday turned into a non-event by close.  The general market averages drifted upward through Friday's close negating much of my expectation of market direction coming into the week.  While I considered a flat market I was leaning more towards further downside,  particularly given the action on 3/21 and not really expecting much upside at all.  I've yet to quantify whether or not there is an edge to what is considered to be an end of quarter window dressing, but when the market proves analysis incorrect arguing against can be costly.

Coming into this week I decided to take the perspective of what would make me want to move heavily long as opposed to what would make me perceive a stagnant to downside market.  The first metric I would like to see increase is the number of stocks over my standard holding period expanding over this time frame.  Currently this is still mostly flat lining.

10 Day Buying/Selling Differential

Seeing expansion over a 6-Week time horizon would be the second.

13% +/- Over 6-Weeks

Lastly seeing this expand to a quarterly time frame.

25% +/- Over a Quarter

With a fresh earning season underway perhaps this will be a catalyst to break the current market gridlock and push breadth metrics northbound en masse.