If the stock market action thus far in 2014 has made you a little uneasy, you are not alone. If you find yourself wanting to beat your head against the door, don't fret, you've got company. And if you are spending an inordinate amount of time yelling at your screens, don't despair - the guy next to you is probably doing the exact same thing.
Sandwiched in between the Jan/Feb's -5.76 percent decline in the S&P 500 and the more recent thrashing of the momentum stocks (which produced a decline of -8.22 percent in the NASDAQ and -8.07 percent on the Russell 2000), has been a great deal of frustrating, range-bound, sideways movement this year.
In fact, of the 16 weeks that will have been completed in 2014 when the closing bell rings today, at least 10 have been largely east-west affairs. But mind you, these are not simply sideways markets. No, this is sideways with a dash of volatility mixed in - so as to drive everyone completely batty!
The overly simplistic chart of the S&P 500 below makes the point quite clear.
2013 Gains Being Digested
Some analysts suggest that the strong move up in 2013 wound up "pulling forward" some gains that rightfully belonged to the current calendar year. The thinking iss that with everyone looking to better days ahead - especially near the end of last year - the buying simply got out of hand. As a consequence, the action in 2014 can be considered a digestion or consolidation phase.
Ok, that certainly makes some sense. Then when one considers that we've already been exposed to at least two possible "crises" (the emerging market currency crisis and the Russia/Ukraine geopolitical crisis) and a rather severe correction in the mo-mo names, well, it's a wonder that the ...
