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“My main life lesson from investing: self-interest is the most powerful force on earth.” – Jesse Livermore

Retail sales have helped to push a modestly positive tone in the futures market even higher.  Headline retail sales showed growth of more than double economists forecasts (1.9% vs 0.8%), and ex Autos as well as Ex Autos and Gas, the beat relative to expectations has been even stronger.

Be sure to check out today’s Morning Lineup for a rundown of the latest stock-specific news of note, market performance in the US and Europe, key earnings data from the US and Europe, trends related to the COVID-19 outbreak, and much more.

While the week is looking to finish off on a positive note, performance over the last week (since last Thursday’s close) sure has been mixed.  The sector snapshot from our Trend Analyzer shows that while six sectors have moved higher in their trading ranges over the last week, five have declined.  Tech has been the clear leader on the week rising more than 2.5%, followed by Consumer Discretionary (1.61%), Consumer Staples (1.41%), and Communication Services (1.33%).  On the downside, the only two sectors that are down more than 1% over the last five trading days are Real Estate and Energy (what else is new?).

Relative to their trading ranges, Industrials and Utilities are the only two sectors that are trading at ‘Extreme Overbought” levels, while Technology, and both Consumer sectors are merely overbought.  Every other sector is neutral and Energy is the only sector below its 50-day moving average.