Howdy all, and welcome back from what was a wild weekend. Whether you're a sports fan or a fan of politics, there was more than enough going on over the course of the past couple of days to keep you on the edge of your seat. Wow! The sports side of it doesn't mean much to you and I as traders. The political aspects of this weekend are going to make waves though -- Trump is clearly intent on acting on his economic agenda, and fast. One of the early responses to the most recent round of policy changes (planned or enacted) is the U.S. dollar. Donald Trump mentioned we was for a weak U.S. dollar, and even beyond his rhetoric his policies are largely bearish for the greenback. Sure enough, the U.S. Dollar Index took another hit today, falling under a minor support level at 100.25, and extending a firm downtrend from last month's peak around 103.60. With some momentum in place and a political tailwind behind it, this downtrend could last a while. Now, remember... this isn't necessarily a bad thing. We even think there's more good than bad. A weaker dollar means higher oil prices, and a weaker dollar makes goods more affordable for foreign buyers of what the U.S. makes. It even makes foreign-made goods more expensive to American buyers, who may opt to buy an American-made good. That's very much in line with Trump's "America first" mission, for better or worse. It remains to be seen what the actual outcome will be, but it will be good for most U.S. corporations if the U.S. dollar weakens. Still, as strong as this month's downward thrust had been, it's barely even scratched the surface of how much the greenback needs to fall before it gets back to levels that aren't stifling. Take a look at our zoomed-out version of the U.S. Dollar Index chart. We only make a point of (repeatedly) showing you this chart primarily because it's been such a burden on oil prices. That's a tenth of the U.S. economic engine that's not only not adding to corporate profits, but has actually been posting losses that have proven a drag on all other corporate profits. We're anxiously awaiting to see if this pullback from the dollar will be "the" one that gets the bigger pullback started. If it is, it will need to be helped by a Fed that's more dovish than hawkish... in terms of chatter if not in terms of action. As far was how it impacted the stock market on Monday, not much. But, it's becoming very clear that the lack of progress the market has mustered of late is starting to wear thin, and investors are dropping out. Thanks to today's lull, the S&P 500 once again poked below its 20-day moving average line. Though it managed to close above that short-term moving average line, the bears are slowly but surely chipping away. And as the Under the Radar Movers team noted today, it's interesting that the 20-day moving average line is now actually sloped downward rather than upward. The rally effort is running out of gas. We still contend things could very easily go either way. That is to say, while the S&P 500 is testing (and even forming) technical support at 2256, there's a ceiling above -- at 2280 -- that's just as strong. Something's got to give soon. Which side of the fence we're going to land on is still a 50/50 proposition. Of course, with Q4's earnings season officially starting with Alcoa's (AA) report tomorrow, we may well have the catalysts we need to get off the fence soon enough. Finally, we've talked more than once of late about how the market can be mostly bearish in February, reversing what's usually a bullish January; March is usually a good month for stocks, reversing February's lull. Today we'd like to drill a little deeper into that idea, highlighting some of the sectors and industries with the most extreme performances in February.... bullish and bearish. Let's just start with a couple of the most bearish ones, one of which is the automobiles industry. Not only do carmaker stocks tend to lose a couple of percentage points in February, they usually start that weakness in January. So far this year, the automobile manufacturer stocks have been volatile, but have performed in a pretty typical fashion. Note that while car-making stocks start the year rough, that lull is also often a setup for a huge spring-time rally. The other reliable February loser is software and related services. These stocks tend to tank 2% in February (and aren't exactly stellar performers in January either). The sector to-date has defied the odds, but you have to wonder if 2017's bullishness is going to set up an even-bigger February setback. As for the bullish sectors, two of the best in terms of a February performance are energy and semiconductors. As was the case with automobile manufacturers, energy stocks are pretty much following their typical path during the average year.... falling quite a bit in January. If this year is like the typical year for these names though, February's rally will just be the beginning of a nice move. Semiconductor stocks are going to dish out plenty of volatility this year, as they always do. It's a bullish volatility though, particularly in February. They're up an average of 2% for the month, and that's generally just the beginning of a good first one-third of the year. This group's performance in 2017 thus far has been fairly typical. Obviously past performance is no guarantee of future results. On the other hand, tendencies and averages are always worth noting, and knowing. Hope this helps some.