Tense But Edging Higher

It’s getting cold outside, but it’s hot inside as the stock market continues to edge higher with an impressive session on Friday. There’s no reason for stocks to be higher on a day when few are bold enough to hold trading positions with profits over a weekend. With that session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average cleared a pivotal resistance point (and former support point) of 17,164.

From here, the next big upside test is 17,500.

Tense Week

Last week, was a nip and tuck all the way with the market seesawing back–and-forth; the spurt late Friday made the difference. Nevertheless, looking under the hood, it’s clear the market is still indecisive.

One thing is encouraging; stocks are moving higher versus lower and new highs versus new lows.

There are a lot of earnings reports due this week, beginning with Halliburton (HAL) and Morgan Stanley (MS) this morning. However, the session might feed off China’s third quarter 2015, gross domestic product (3Q15-GDP) data, expected to come in at a 6.7% growth.