Welp, the market did it!  We ended up on the week!  Hooray!  Recovery is back on!

I love reading the experts and their explanations of why the market did this or that.  Why it went up or down.  Here is a good one from a recap article from the associated press:

“The market is nervous,” said Joe Heider, principal at Rehmann Financial in Cleveland. “It’s reacting on a day-to-day basis.”

Ok, got it Joe.  Thanks.

Furthermore, you gotta love the article with the headline: Prep Your Portfolio For Next Week published over at CNBC.com.  Yes, that makes sense.  Let’s make our moves based on a week-long time frame.  I’m sure the track record for such a strategy is just fantastic.

Consumer

On the consumer front, two conflicting reports out today.  Retail sales put in a bad number, dropping unexpectedly (side note: Why is every piece economic of data always unexpected?  What do these economists do all day?).  However, when we thought the recovery was over, we were saved with a jump in consumer sentiment!  Well which way is it?  Are we back or not?  Ah heck, I better go read that article on prepping my portfolio for next week again.

Probably best to ignore these reports.  Sorry for even mentioning them to you.

Enjoy the weekend!