Wall Street Greek: Goldilocks' Twisted Sister Leads Stocks Astray

Last week we were reminded how important the market’s expectations for the Federal Reserve are. As data made a case for a Fed pause in rate hikes, investors overlooked the fact that the economy seems to be softening. It’s something I think can continue for as long as the Fed sounds hesitant and the economy doesn’t break. Today’s data further supported this thesis and stocks gained some more. Still, this is not a Goldilocks sort of situation, as the best case scenario for investors would include robust economic growth that justifies Fed policy normalization. What we have instead is sort of like Goldilocks’ evil twin, and a hope that bad enough but not recessionary economic data keeps the Fed at bay. See the full report on Goldilocks Twisted Twin Leading Stocks Higher.

Stock Sector	Monday 02-01-16
SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY)	-0.04%
SPDR Dow Jones (NYSE: DIA)	-0.02%
PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq: QQQ)	+0.27%
iShares Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM)	+0.46%
Vanguard Total Stock Market (NYSE: VTI)	+0.02%
iPath S&P 500 VIX ST Futures (NYSE: VXX)	-1.16%
United States Oil (NYSE: USO)	-6.53%

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