The remarkable rebound in the U.S. stock market from the lows in late December has resulted in gains that the analysts at Goldman Sachs rightly point out already constitute banner returns for an entire calendar year. History is replete with examples of major recoveries following big sell-offs, many of which turn out to be head fakes otherwise known as bear market rallies. At the end of the trading day, it’s still fundamentals that should drive investing decisions.
If the economy is, in fact, slowing and that is what has sidelined the Federal Reserve, then what we are witnessing at the moment is a bear market rally. AdMacro Ltd head of research Patrick Perret-Green recently warned the firm's clients that though the January employment jobs report might have looked good on paper with 304,000 jobs created, it nevertheless flashed a bright recession signal as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4 percent, the highest since June.
