It's time for the weekly summation and I find it amusing when the first positive that's listed is that it could have been worse.  Of course, that's right, which is illustrated in this week's bonus graph which shows that this is actually the fifth correction we've had in the last eight years so, contrary to popular opinion, this has not been an eight year bull market at all.  In fact, it's only been a two year bull market.  Still, the negatives have been substantial with the worst 2-week decline in the Dow since 2011.  Let's see what Monday brings.  Hope everyone survived all the big snow this weekend. 

Succinct Summation of Week’s Events for 2.9.18

February 9, 2018 5:00pm by Barry Ritholtz

Succinct Summations for the week ending February 9th, 2017

Positives:

1. Could have been worse: Bad week ends with Friday afternoon rally…
2. Jobless claims come in at 221k, down from 230k previously and below the 235k expected
3. ISM non-mfg index increased to 59.9, the strongest reading in its 20-year history
4. Chain store sales rose .4% in December following a 1.2% gain in November
5. Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined from 54.6 to a still very strong 54.4.

Negatives:

1. Another rough week for U.S. stocks as the S&P 500 declines by 6%; The Dow had its worst 2-week decline (-9.1%) since August 2011.
2. PMI services index came in at 53.3, in-line with expectations and near a 9-month low
3. Same store sales rose 3% y/o/y, down slightly from last reading
4. Job openings fell 2.8% in December from 5.879M to 5.811M