Last week, more NEGATIVE than POSITIVE developments were announced and the stock market became more volatile.

Below is a succinct list of last week’s events:

Positives:
1) Oil prices moderate but for both good and bad reasons
2) Day of Rage ends up being Day of Nothing, Saudi stocks rally this week
3) Retail Sales good but what’s next with higher gasoline prices?
4) US Treasury finds aggressive buyers for 10 and 30 yr debt
5) NFIB small biz optimism index hits best since Dec ’07

Negatives:
1) China reports unexpected trade deficit
2) Gasoline prices up another $.05 to $3.54, hasn’t fallen in 24 days
3) Initial Claims rise but remain below 400k
4) UOM confidence drops and follows fall in Bloomberg poll as one yr inflation expectations jump to 4.6% from 3.4%
5) Higher than expected US trade deficit leads to cut in Q1 GDP forecasts
6) Moody’s downgraded Spain’s credit rating, yields continue to rise in Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Source: The Big Picture