It was an equal opportunity drubbing on Friday as the only thing higher was the ‘fear index.’

Delicious Irony

The fact that Apple (AAPL) was higher was a delicious (pun intended) irony, considering the mavens all agree the stock won’t shine as it did in the past.  Buying insurance names makes sense, considering the industry’s recent pricing power.

There was some buying into the closing bell… let's call it nibbling.

Breadth & Bounce Back

Market breadth was a disaster, especially for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which endured 2,388 decliners against only 449 advancers. But the volume tells the story: 292 million up volume offset by 3.65 billion down volume.

Great work from Hi Mount Research, underscoring that the NYSE daily volume ratio hasn’t bounced back as usual. Are the bulls losing their nerve? 

Last week, the market was hit with many earnings stumbles, higher inflation, and perhaps some selling to pay taxes. Add geopolitical tensions, and maybe, things could have been worse.

Today’s Session

Retail sales came in better than expected and February was revised higher.

Interestingly, there were declines in motor vehicles, furniture, electronics, clothing, and sporting goods.  Gasoline stations surged 2.1% and grocery stores +0.5%, which might have more to do with inflated prices than an uptick in demand.

On the earnings front, Goldman Sachs (GS) blew away Wall Street consensus.  The stock opened at $407.

Bond yields are higher and that is not good news.