Percent of stocks trading above 200-day moving averages still well below levels that preceded previous market peaks. Real Time Economic Calendar provided by Investing.com. *** Stocks highlighted are for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice to purchase or to sell mentioned securities. As always, the use of technical and fundamental analysis is encouraged in order to fine tune entry and exit points to average seasonal trends. Stocks Entering Period of Seasonal Strength Today: Crane Co. (NYSE:CR) Seasonal Chart Uni-Pixel, Inc. (NASD:UNXL) Seasonal Chart T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASD:TMUS) Seasonal Chart Coach, Inc. (NYSE:COH) Seasonal Chart Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) Seasonal Chart Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) Seasonal Chart Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) Seasonal Chart The Markets Stocks closed higher for a third straight session on Tuesday as earnings optimism kept investors leaning on the buy button. The S&P 500 Index added just over two-tenths of one percent, maintaining a parabolic path that has become increasingly stretched above levels of support at major moving averages. The large-cap benchmark is now around 13% above its 200-day moving average, something not seen since early 2011. Back then, stocks carved out a massive topping pattern in the months thereafter, eventually breaking below the 200-day moving average later that year as the debt-ceiling crisis led to a abrupt downturn in stocks. Certainly, there are no hints of a topping pattern (yet) as we saw back then. But while the value of the benchmark itself is stretched above its 200-day moving average, the percent of stocks trading above this major moving average is nowhere near the extremes witnessed during the 2011 market peak. The breadth indicator reached a high of 93.6% in the early spring of 2011 before turning lower, eventually bottoming out around 9% in August of that year. Presently 82.4% of stocks are above this long-term pivot point. This rather subdued level compared to previous market highs can be attributed to the ongoing rotation that has been apparent for many months, from defensives into cyclicals, and now away from interest sensitive sectors. This has allowed investors to find opportunities to keep the momentum of the market moving higher. And on the topic of rotation, the interest rate sensitive sectors were the flavour of the day on Tuesday, topping the leaderboard as interest rates ticked slightly lower. The iShares Real Estate ETF (IYR) gapped higher by 1.38% while the SPDR Utilities Sector ETF (XLU) was higher by 0.96%. Both have broken longer-term rising trendline support, suggesting the path of least resistance over the intermediate term may be lower. Both ETFs had become very oversold in recent days, exhausting their selling pressures and leading to Tuesday’s snap-back. Seasonally, these bond proxies remain in a period of seasonal weakness through the end of February, at which point they tend to strengthen into the spring. IYR Relative to the S&P 500 UTILITIES Relative to the S&P 500 On the economic front, CASS Information Systems released their freight index for the month of December. Shipping volumes are indicated to have fallen by 0.3%, which is a fraction of the 4.5% average decline for the last month of the calendar year. Expenditures, meanwhile, were higher by 0.3%, diverging from the 3.2% average decline for the month. The results put the shipping and expenditure benchmarks 6.9% and 12.2%, respectively, above average for the calendar year, the best performance since 2010 and 2011. Shipping activity is a key gauge of the health of the economy and the results through the fourth quarter are certainly indicative of good things for the year that is now upon us. Seasonally, shipping activity typically ramps up in February, trending higher through the spring as industrial production gets back up to pace following the winter slowdown. Cass Freight Index: Shipments Seasonal Chart Sentiment on Tuesday, as gauged by the put-call ratio, ended overly bullish at 0.64. This is the lowest level in over a year and obviously raises flags as complacency is implied. Seasonal charts of companies reporting earnings today: S&P 500 Index TSE Composite