Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Investors Head For The Exit

The market could not find any upward momentum from the beginning of trading today. As more details were gleaned from the stimulus bill this morning, investors began to understand the long term negative consequences of the added unfunded mandates in the stimulus bill. One unfunded mandate, and one that will certainly add additional stress to the government budget (that means higher taxes) was the health care provisions in the bill.

Bloomberg picked up on this and provided commentary on the two new departments created for health care, Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research and National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, established out of this bill. The article, Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan, describes the infrastructure that is established out of the bill that will provide for national health care down the road. As the article notes, rationing health care to seniors will result as the new policies are implemented.

It seems the two positives from today's market action are both technical. The S&P 500 Index chart has maintained its positive flag formation as the market closed above the lower resistance line. The question is whether or not the market can maintain this support level around 820. Additionally, the MACD remains bullish although the fast moving average line has hooked downward.

(click to enlarge)

S&P 500 Index chart analysis February 10, 2009Wednesday could be an interesting trading day as investors digest all the news out of Washington.


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