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Market data wasn't so hot today, but that didn't prevent the broader market from posting modest gains anyway.

Retail sales for December were up a paltry 0.1%, while sales actually fell 0.2% less autos. That was below economists estimates of 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. Prior month numbers were upwardly revised, however.



Initial weekly jobless claims climbed to 399,000 from 375,000 last week. Estimates were looking for something ...

News and data continue to be very light and share volume quite thin. As a result we had another slow day of trading action. While the major averages were mixed, I think the nod continues to go to the bulls as the averages were higher overall.

The only data point today was the Fed's Beige Book and it's generally not a market mover. In the report, the Fed reiterated that national economic activity grew at a modest to moderate pace from late November through December. The market didn't ...

It looks that way. After tracking mostly sideways for days now, the market made a decided turn North today. And I can't argue with the charts either. Let's take a look:



NAMO and NYMO are now hitting fresh multi-week highs. They also remain on buys.



NAHL and NYHL are also on buys with NAHL in particular hitting fresh multi-week highs. NYHL is lagging a bit, but I won't argue with ...

It was a boring trading day, but the market did post some modest gains in spite of the lack of data or news. Still, watching the paint dry would have been more entertaining.



As a side note, earnings season begins next week, so that should give the market more catalysts from which to derive some direction. Maybe that's what this market is waiting for as share volume is still at holiday levels.

Here's today's charts:
...

Last week the tracker charts showed that we were collectively moving to the G fund as the Santa Claus rally ran its course (last Wednesday was officially the end of the SC rally). The Top 50 had dropped their stock exposure a whopping 33.34% to begin last week's trading, which put them at a total stock allocation of 47.92%. The herd had also dropped their stock allocation last week, but by a more modest 15.27%. That gave them a total stock exposure of only 39.09%.

Both groups ended ...