While infamous ruler-user Laszlo Birinyi does note that "this market is not going to be like last year," he remains full bulltard as to where stocks are headed. As Bloomberg notes [5], Birinyi says stocks have too much momentum to make betting against them a winning strategy and the S&P will hit 1,900 by the end of the second quarter. "Short sellers have probably learned their lesson," he squeaks adding thatthe current pullback signals "healthy skepticism that sets the stage for more gains." One question - how was momentum in 1929? 1987? 1999? or 2007?
[6]
Via Bloomberg,
U.S. stocks have too much momentum to make betting against the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index a winning strategy and the gauge will probably reach 1,900 next quarter, according to money manager Laszlo Birinyi.
...It fell 5.8 percent in the three weeks staring Jan. 15, losses he said signal healthy skepticism that set the stage for more gains.
“I don’t like when the market just shrugs these things off,” Birinyi said from Westport, Connecticut. “It’s OK to just stop and take a deep breath. The market should have some sort of a negative reaction when you have problems in Turkey and Argentina. That didn’t make me uncomfortable.”
...
“Short sellers have probably learned their lesson” after a year when 460 of 500 companies in the benchmark index climbed, the most since at least 1990, Birinyi said. At the same time, “there’s nothing that you can say is a bargain or a real value” if you’re a bull, he said.
...
“We’ve had a little bit of a detour and the road isn’t as smooth as it has been, but we still think the rally is intact,” Birinyi said.
The S&P 500 had fallen 5 percent or more 18 times previously since the start of the rally in March 2009, recovering the losses within about two months on average, data compiled by Bloomberg and Bespoke Investment Group show. To Birinyi, the latest retreat will be no different, though he said investors will have to shift their strategies to succeed in 2014.
“This market is not going to be like last year, which was a very steady consistent market without a whole lot of volatility,” he said.
Bulls can only hope that Birinyi is correct (and it's the stock that matters)...
[7]
But it is the slowing flow that has hurt sentiment recently - and we suspect the Fed is to worried about its credibility to jump back on the un-taper bandwagon anytime soon...
[8]
Seems to us like all that matters is USDJPY holding above 102.00
h/t @Not_Jim_Cramer