Earnings are falling, but first-quarter results have come in better than feared. And while bond and equity bulls are embracing the prospect of interest rate cuts, skeptics say such hopes are at odds with the United States Federal Reserve’s own forecast.
In a sign of trader indecision, the S&P 500 has closed within 50 points of the 4,155 level for five straight weeks. That’s a threshold that shows the market recouping half of its losses from last year’s bruising selloff.Article content Meanwhile, their discretionary counterparts have clung to their cautious stance. Take hedge funds. The industry’s long/short ratio tracked by Goldman last week dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade.