Momentum-Driven Gains: Month and Market

momentum-driven gains: History would say that we won't get a massive pullback; over the past 20 years, March has been the second strongest month for stocks, Ryan Detrick senior market strategist at LPL Financial told Market Watch, according to Market Watch. Meanwhile, Detrick said investors who choose to sit on the sidelines this month may miss out on momentum-driven gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.43% has advanced 20%, the S&P 500 index SPX, 0.69% has rallied 20.7% in the 46 trading days since Christmas Eve, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 0.83% has jumped 25.4%. But strategists and investors interviewed by Market Watch worry that the very success of the markets in recent weeks could set up a volatile month for stocks, even as March has statistically been a great month to buy equities. When you have massive buying pressure and strength off the December lows, usually the market over performs in the short-term, Detrick said. I'm not sure there is a catalyst to push stocks higher in March, he said. Caption outside of wrapper for normal article images Risks loom large However, Erik Ristuben, chief investment strategist at Russell Investments said that despite the market's recent resilience, he believes investors will need some surprisingly good news to boost valuations substantially higher than they presently are. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.