ETF Update: Starting The Week On A Mildly Positive Note

The day started off with a lot of lousy layoff news from Home Depot (NYSE:HD) (7K), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) (8K), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) (20K) and Sterling Banks (NASDAQ:STBK) (1K). Pfizer buying Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) stimulated bulls and they got further pumped-up by home sales and Leading Economic Indicators being better than expected. So up we went early only to see those gains fade as the day progressed.

Volume was moderate and breadth was modestly positive.

A shocking story today came via ABC News asserting that government regulators aided a cover-up by IndyMac. If this is true then there will no doubt be more stories like this yet to come.

Then we got the comforting news from S&P that GE’s AAA credit rating is not “immediately affected” by its recent earnings statement. No, S&P will wait for a bankruptcy filing before they even put them on their super-duper “watch list”. Too ridiculous, eh?

The Fed meeting should prove interesting only as to the statement they will issue. Clearly they’re prepared to monetize US debt given the level of money printing taking place. How the Fed balances risks of inflation with new strategies is well articulated by this Bloomberg article.

So we start the week off on a mildly positive note. Barring news out of the blue, the three big news events to play out this week are Exxon Mobil’s (NYSE:XOM) earnings since it’s such a heavy weight in the DJIA (^DJI); the Fed meeting and what could be a peculiar and market moving statement from them; and GDP 4^th quarter data on Friday. All this could wind-up January with a bang.

As for me, I’m heading to the States again tomorrow. I should be able to post tomorrow night but then we’ll be in the air literally most of Wednesday so no post that day. Hopefully, we’ll be able to post on Thursday.

So, let’s see what happens.

Disclaimer: The ETF Digest maintains a position in GLD.

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