January 2026

Dear Members.

This week has had a bit of everything, including earnings from the largest companies in the world, economic reports that inflation remains stubbornly elevated, a Fed meeting where rates were held steady and this morning the announcement of a new Federal Reserve chairman. All of it combined leading to a S&P that at its low today was close to where it was back in October, when it topped out at 6920 before touching a new all time high of 7002 earlier this week. Said another way; going nowhere fast.

One could argue that in spite of some developments that could be seen as negative, just holding steady is bullish. There's some merit to that thinking. On the other hand, the bulls have been unable to make much progress since that October high as we enter a period of the year that some might consider more bearish.

Since the one thing that seems to count the most - earnings - have so far been mixed, traders are going to have to look for other reasons to consider going long or short. We still do have some major earnings reports coming out next week including AMD, AMZN and GOOGL, and perhaps the reaction to these important tech companies could serve as a catalyst for the market to move higher or lower. But it's also possible that the market might consolidate for an extended period of time.

The current range on the S&P is pretty straight forward; 7002 to the upside and 6858, the 50 day moving average to the downside. If the 50 day were to go then we would want to see if price support of 6789 holds. 

Tom will be back with his Weekly Market Report on Monday.

At your service,

John Hopkins