The stock market has been in a strong bull market that has consistently rewarded dip buyers. However, this state of affairs may be about to change. Jaimini Desai identifies 4 concerning developments that indicate a deeper pullback may be in the works.Since the coronavirus lows set in March 2020, the S&P 500 is up an impressive 89.8%. The first few months of this rally featured outperformance from tech stocks, due to increased tech spending and remote working during the pandemic. Then, as the vaccines were announced, the combination of massive stimulus (already issued and in the pipelines) and the expectation of the economy reopening, led to accelerating economic growth for a few quarters. As a result, value and cyclical stocks roared higher, along with technology stocks.
This dynamic changed in February, as tech stocks started to slip lower, while other parts of the market kept moving higher. In recent weeks, the market’s advance seems to have stalled while rotation to certain parts of the markets continues. To be clear, I believe that the market’s underlying fundamentals such as earnings growth, interest rate policy, and economic data continue to indicate that the bull market is in the initial phases of a multiyear move higher.
However, there are increasing signs that a deeper pullback may be brewing. As a result, investors in stocks and ETFs like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) should consider taking some risk off the table for the near term.