Momentum Monday – War...What’s It Good For?

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The headlines on Friday were all about war and Iran which got me thinking about the famous song by Edwin Starr which asks ‘War – What’s It Good For’?

The answer…

  Absolutely Nothing.

Stock traders would argue – defense stocks – which hit all time highs on Friday as Iran moved from page 10 to page 1 of the news.

Ivanhoff and I did our weekly tour of the markets highlighting trends and momentum. You can watch/listen here.

Here is what stood out to Ivanhoff:

1. We saw a notable inflow in capital into emerging market stocks. The Chinese Internet ETF, KWEB gained more than 6% on Thursday and it managed to keep most of its gains during the pullback on Friday.2. Crude oil had a big 3% gap which might be the beginning of a new trend, especially if the situation in the East escalates. Gold has also been on the rise.3. Defense stocks ETF, XAR broke out to new all-time highs.4. Interest rates are going down which is good news for the our debt-ridden economy.5. Quite a few enterprise software stocks are setting up for a potential breakout: COUP, TWLO, AYX, etc.Happy New Year and Thanks for watching/reading.

I am going to see how this new front page news moves the markets for a few days before I do much of anything.

Have a great week.