The NASDAQ composite is hitting resistance at the 50 day level. If this continues we will soon see the 50 day average cross below the 200 day average which will be a bearish signal. For now, our market trend indicator continues to say the trend is up, but the indicator is just an imperfect guide, not an oracle (more below). The markets seem to be watching the 'fiscal cliff' negotiations but Barry Ritholz believes this is not all that is going on and the uncertain direction can also be explained by weak corporate profits, adjustment to an over bought condition, failed market expectations of a Romney victory. Read his comments here.

Fiscal cliff or fiscal slope or not,  the markets may also be factoring in the very real prospect of a recession in 2013 because even if the cliff/slope is avoided, public sector (Federal and State) expenditure will be reduced in 2013. The ECRI believes we are already in recession. see The Tell Tale Chart

You will see in our tables below that breakouts were few this week and rarely profitable. I suggest a great deal of caution despite our optimistic trend indicator..

The Zack's watchlist daily refresh is now functioning again after a brief hiccup

For the past three weeks we have reported that we are working on fine tuning our market trend indicators. We initially thought we had succeeded in making a substantial improvement when looking at recent market trends but when we did sensitivity testing over longer time frames, and with different starting and ending dates, we did not find a statistically significant improvement, so our current trend indicators will remain in place.

We are always looking to improve our algorithms and we may find a better solution in the future.