Maybe It's Time For News That Isn't So Bad

GE was downgraded by S&P to AA+. This is a negative for financing costs of GE but it isn't a big surprise and the stock is rising on the news. Retail sales were down .1% in February but January sales were revised upward. That seems to be good news. Of course unemployment claims increased 654,000 which was worse than expected. The markets will digest all the news but so far stocks haven't tanked in the futures market. We expect unemployment to be bleak for many months to come but the bulls are searching for the positive tea leaves. Perhaps the market can stabilize in the short term and the big question is can the market rise three days in a row? This hasn't happened in a while but the Bear rally could still be in place.