If this is a head fake, it sure is an elaborate one

It can’t possibly be. Companies are missing on revenue left and right. Economic data is coming in looking like ass. The Fed is hellbent on getting a rate hike in.

And yet, a new record high for the NYSE Composite as the week closed out. A setup that could portend the next leg higher after 10 months of consolidation. How? Why? Is it a trick? A ruse to suck in the last holdouts? Is this the thrust that pulls in the remaining Hussman AUM?

If the breakout is a head fake, it certainly is an elaborate one. Consider that the NYSE Composite is made up of over 2000 securities – all of which meet the stringent requirements of listing on the exchange. The index is comprised using a free-floating market cap methodology, so it’s broad and deep. And it’s just taken out resistance at a highly improbable moment if you’re reading the latest headlines. Relative strength is confirming. This thing wants higher:

Also whipped up the below cumulative NYSE Comp advance/decline chart, which has already broken out, thanks in part to the foreign stocks and REITs that are leading ahead of the S&P this year:

So yes, it could be a trap. But if it is, someone should tell all the freely-traded issues involved to stop going higher.