“It does provide some encouragement that the rebound since the February lows could at least serve as a solid foundation for a respectable performance for the remainder of the year,” Bespoke said.
[related_stories]Market observers have noted that fears of the U.S. economy facing an imminent recession have not been substantiated, and areas of the market are improving, such as in the energy space where depressed oil prices saw a slight recovery.
“The key question at hand is whether the recent rebound in risk assets was merely a bear market rally and a new downside collapse is under way, or if the pending pullback is an opportunity to further accumulate equities in an unfolding bull cycle upturn,” Robert Sluymer, a technical analyst at RBC Dominion Securities, said, the Globe and Mail reports.
Looking ahead, equities investors will be watching for improvements in company earnings where headwinds have intensified, with the markets currently wading through a so-called earnings recession – FactSet estimates profits for the first quarter of 2016 are expected to fall 8.7% year-over-year, or the fourth consecutive quarter of declines and the longest losing streak since the start of the financial crisis.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF