MARKET UPDATE

The stock market ended the week up despite the beginning of sequestration kicking in as the President and Congress failed to cut a deal in what's become a source of entertainment world-wide: Will they reach a compromise or won't they? Will they kiss and make up or is this the start of a legal separation?

Many Americans yawned their way through this carnival as the DJIA closed the week at 14,089, up a whopping .64% for the week. It was a similar tale for the NASDQ, up 0.25%, closing at 3,167 and the S&P 500 closing at 1,518.20, up 0.23% for the session.

Retail investors, apparently tired of waiting and tired of paltry returns available in so-called safer stuff, are now filing into the SM, buying the dips and hoping for the best. With a little luck this could be another episode of their buy high-and-sell lower saga Wall Street loves. Without bait there's no fishing.

Meanwhile, back at the sequestration party the market may decide no compromise is a compromise. Financials and consumer discretionary shares shared the upside limelight of what was another sedate session, with Bank of America (BAC) and the GAP (GPS) leading the charge.