The Market in May

So now that we're into the month of June, we can look back at the stock market's performance in May and ask: What happened? The S&P 500 lost more than 9 percent of its value, as did the Dow. Are we heading into another bear market, or was this a simple correction? The real answer is "No one knows," but there is no shortage of opinion on the matter.

One pundit who might be worth paying attention to is Alan Brochstein, a veteran technical stock picker who writes for the Web site Seeking Alpha. The reason Brochstein's opinion might carry more weight is because he expected this to happen: He thought back in February that the S&P would peak between 1200 and 1230 (it actually peaked at 1220) before correcting by at least 10 percent.

So how does Brochstein read the market now?

* It's fundamentally and technically sound.

* None of the market's individual sectors indicate a return to a bear market.

* Earnings are improving.

* The market's long-term moving averages are still going higher.

Add it all up, and despite some frightening signals from Wall Street, Brochstein thinks we're likely to see more upward movement through the year. For more, see his analysis here.