Art Cashin: Why The Rally is 'Suspect'
After a morning dip dampened Monday's gains, stocks bounced back Tuesday.
Art Cashin, UBS Financial Services director of floor operations, offered CNBC his insights and outlook for the stock market.
Did Monday's "big move" in the Dow signify a bull — and contradict Cashin's dire pullback prognostications of days past?
"I think the jury's out now," he said. "I used to figure, living in North America, when you hear hoofbeats, you'll have horses. Yesterday, it was a zebra."
"The bulls managed in low volume, but nevertheless had a pretty good day: the breadth [of trading] was good, over a broad area."
"Goldman [Sachs] recommending Bank of America seemed to help, as did the Indian election."
But Cashin isn't joining the feelgood bandwagon so fast: "I still think the thing is suspect."
Why?
He noted that Friday's trading volume was down from Thursday's — and "for an options expiration day, that almost never happens. There are some strange undercurrents going on here."
"People are on the sidelines," he said. "I think some of the traffic that ordinarily would be going into individual stocks is going into ETFs," as investors seek safety from volatility. He also questioned whether the rise in commodities and energy prices is being fueled by speculators, rather than economic fundamentals.
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"The spread of opinion is enormous — between people who believe it and those who don't."
"...Some are thrilled. But then there are those who are not only predicting testing the lows, but that we'll be making new lows. I'm going to watch for a couple of days."
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Disclosures:
Disclosure information was not available for Cashin or his company.
