Oddities, again
We've been noting consistently that recent gains in the indexes have been notable because they've been accompanied by excellent participation, showing the kinds of thrusts we often see near the beginning of a long-term uptrend (see today's report for more). The biggest worry, given the euphoric state of sentiment, will be when these conditions start to deteriorate. So far, there were only a few isolated days in December, and not enough to drag on the overall environment.
Thanks to weakness in small-caps again, though, internal numbers were weak again on Thursday. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to records but with abnormally few advancing stocks. It's too early to be excessively worried about this, but it's exactly the kind of thing that will start to drag on the other measures we follow and will start to trigger more important warning signs.


