Welcome back from the long weekend, folks. We hope everybody had a nice time. As we were worried about after Thursday's intraday tapering, the bulls were MIA to start this new week off. With the Santa Claus rally already fizzling in this last week of trading for 2015, I doubt any would-be buyers are now going to find the wherewithal to be strong buyers here. It's usually a slow week anyway, and with no more proven momentum, the next three trading days (the market's closed on Friday for New Year's) are likely to prove especially slow. Today's session got a little bit scary shortly after the open, with the S&P 500 as low as -0.8% at one point. By the time the closing bell rang though, the index was well above its lows, and ended the day just down 0.22%. That intraday bounce, however, merely yanked the S&P 500 right back to an entanglement of moving averages that's been in play for several days. The chart tells the tale. I don't think it's a coincidence the market is reverting back to its mean, or moving averages. That's the default mentality when nobody's sure what to do and/or everybody's waiting for the other guy to make the first move. The market is still range-bound, obviously; the range is plotted by the dashed lines in the chart above. I think we have to let things play out and wait for a break out of that range before jumping to conclusions. It's no coincidence the Bollinger bands are starting to line up with those dashed lines. With things likely on hold for the next few days that'll give us some time to take care of some year-end stuff and planning for 2016. In fact, we've got part of that commentary and research today. We'll look at it below, but there's something else we need to cross off today's checklist first. From the Site While this week - the last week of the year - is historically a tame one and 2015's final week isn't setting up to be an exception to that norm, the lull hasn't prevented the site's regular contributors from chiming in, nor have our featured companies been shy about releasing news. Indeed, there was so much great stuff posted at the site today we have to direct you to some of the best of it. Perhaps first and foremost, National Waste Management Holdings (NWMH) announced today it signed a deal with Citrus County, Florida, to dispose of the county's yard waste. The news is encouraging, but as James Brumley explained in more detail, it's not the news itself but what the news signifies that investors should be stoked about. Second, though we're not sure we agree with his assessment of where oil and the broad market are headed for the long haul, Chris Vermeulen presented a fairly cogent argument about the future of both today when he posted "When Will They Bottom? Oil, S&P 500, then Exxon Mobil." It never hurts to listen to what both sides of the table have to say. Last but not least, John Udovich laid it all out there today when he penned "Swing Trade Idea: The VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN." Again, we don't necessarily agree or disagree with his thesis, but I will let you know John's case largely builds on the rationale of the same trade John Monroe recently dished out to Elite Opportunity subscribers. Honestly, if you like the gold ETN trading idea, my advice is to go ahead and get those ideas firsthand by becoming an Elite Opportunity subscriber. Neither I nor John Udovich nor anybody else who's a regular contributor at the site is able to put out as many trading ideas as John Monroe can, nor post them as timely as Monroe does. It's also the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. If you want to hit the ground running in 2016, the time to start gearing up is now. The EO would be a great weapon to add to your trading arsenal in the coming year. Here's how, or just cut and paste this link: https://www.smallcapnetwork.com/pages/SCNEO/v1/ Breaking Down 2016 by Sectors Over the next few days (including today) we're going to briefly touch on some data intended to help you make the most out of 2016. Today's entry is a look at the major sector's current valuations and earnings growth trends. As they say, read 'em and weep. Just keep in mind the 2016 numbers are just projections. Here's the year-to-date performance comparison of all the major sectors. It's no real surprise energy stocks are hugging the bottom. It is a little surprising, however, that consumer discretionary stocks are leading the way, despite a recent pullback. [FYI - Not only are the lines color-coordinated with their labels, the performance ranking from best to worst follows the labels, from top to bottom, is in order from best to worst.] A couple of things really stand out to me on this chart. One of them is the fact that the utility sector is once again making up some ground after a lackluster first half of 2015. The other is that the healthcare sector is also recovering well. Do with the information what you want; there are a lot of ways to tap into it. I should also let you know this data only scratches the surface of what the Elite Opportunity research team is going to be doing on the sector front between now and the middle of January or so. John Monroe and his crew will be diving deeper into each sector, looking at quarter-by-quarter growth trends and projections, and pointing out the better opportunities among all ten major sectors. For an example of the kinds of data the EO will be sharing, here's the last time we looked at earnings and valuation data for a specific sector. Those charts are worth a fortune, as they let you get a grip on each sector in a way no other source can. If you'd like to put that kind of power at your fingertips, I strongly suggest you become an Elite Opportunity subscriber. Again, here's the deal.