John Augustine Stock Quotations

The stock market has an opportunity to break upwards if corporate CEOs and CFOs say some good things, or at least some neutral things, about the outlook,

The stock market certainly got what it wanted in a lower-than-expected jobs report. If the Fed moves to the sideline and energy prices stabilize, those will be two headwinds out of the way for the stock market in 2006.

There are fears that any supply disruptions could disturb oil markets and such concerns are holding back both economic growth and stock prices. In the absence of any such disruptions, we expect that crude will stay in the $50-$70 range this year and will likely always be on investors' minds.

Big institutions are holding back their own capital. They're looking for an upside catalyst for stock prices. Any activity on the mergers and acquisition, buy-back or dividend fronts, mixed with good news out of energy or the Fed, would be a catalyst to bring the big institutions back into stock market.

It seems the storm is not going to be as strong as we feared and that was enough to take some of the selling pressure off stocks today. We are not likely to see real stock-buying this afternoon as most investors still want to see what happens with the storm during the weekend, but if damage is minimal, we might be bound for a rally on Monday.

This may be one of those years in the stock market where you'll want to sell on Memorial Day and go away until Labor Day.

Earnings are driving the testing of the top end for the S&P 500, but geopolitical issues are here to stay for some time. That will put downward pressure on the stock market.