Following five straight days in the green, stocks are pretty quiet leading up to the opening bell.  The Housing Starts data came out slightly better than expected this morning, while the Import and Export Prices data showed higher than expected numbers on both fronts.  Consumer Sentiment will be released shortly and is expected to come in at or around 95.5.  Outside of that, today’s slate of data is pretty light.   

Stocks have put together a solid recovery following the massive correction we saw to kick off the month of February.  Considering that we’re already seeing the best week in just over five years, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a bit of profit taking ahead of the long weekend.  It will be interesting to see how the market responds to the selloff moving forward, but I don’t believe all that much has changed from a fundamental standpoint.  Stocks simply moved too far too fast and were in need of a correction.  Next week’s data is pretty light as well, but traders will be looking for some hints about potential rate hikes from the FOMC minutes on Wednesday afternoon.    

E-mini S&P 500 Mar ’18 Daily Chart