Bear Mountain Bull

It’s time again for a little BMB R&R, especially with the market behaving as bizarrely as it’s been. Maybe if we stop watching it start to behave a little better…

Posting will be very light and variable over the course of this week, but we’ll put up an open thread each market day for our readers to comment on the day’s market activity or to post any interesting links they might run across.

Check the space below for whatever the latest might be during this ‘off’ time, and please visit the various sites in the ‘Links’ and ‘Regular Stops’ for up-to-date market news and analysis.

BMB will be back in full swing by next weekend.

Bernie Schaeffer offers up his favorite and least favorite ETFs.

Like we needed more economic data today. From Schaeffer’s Weekly Wrap-Up:

• U.S. construction spending increased by a weaker-than-expected 0.4 percent during February, according to the Commerce Department. Economists were expecting spending to rise by 0.7 percent. Spending on private construction projects added 0.1 percent over January’s revised estimate of $806.2 billion, while pubic spending rose 1.1 percent.
• The March edition of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) index was released Friday. The ISM index slipped to 55.2 percent in March from 55.3 percent in February. The Street was expecting the index to slip to 55.0. Readings above 50 indicate expansion.

The non-farm payroll figures for March came in at about half of what was expected. On the good side, unemployment dipped to 5.2%.

Instead of pulling back during March like many of the energy stocks, Transocean, an oil services company, spent the month consolidating. The last two days have produced a nifty breakout on good volume.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com