After a hectic month, with

• a US debt default discussion,
• a rescue package for Greece and
• signs of slower than expected economic growth

The long-term trend signals for the S&P 500 are all unchanged compared to last month.

They are all pointing up.

But this is a time that shows clearly that looking at the long-term trend signals for one market index like the S&P 500 is not enough.

To see where the trend is going for the overall market, you better follow a number of different market indices.

At this moment we get for example the first warnings from the NASDAQ and NYSE indices for the start of a potential downturn.

Long-term trend signals for many emerging markets are pointing down. And Europe starts coloring red as well.

Following just a single US Market Index is not enough.

To know the overall direction of the US stock market and to invest your savings wisely, you want to follow a US market index. However, there are a few different US market indices. How do you know which US market index to follow?

Here we answer that question for you, taking into account what you want to do with the answer.

When you want to know the long-term direction of the US stock market, we suggest that you do not focus on just one US market index.

Long-term US Trend Direction

At Stock Trend Investing, we follow the four most important indices.

Two of these four are indices for the two major stock exchanges in the US:

Do you work too hard and are you too busy to make your savings work for you? There is no problem with working hard. I encourage that. But when you neglect your savings and what they can do for you, too long, you may not do yourself a favor. Here is a simple solution.

When you work hard and keep your expenses lower than your earnings, you save money. Every month, you see your savings growing. That is a great feeling.

You Lose Money on Your Savings Account

If you are like most people, you just keep your savings somewhere on a savings account. This nets you probably at this moment somewhere between the 2% and 3% interest per year.

Can you think of a scenario in which a long-term investor needs a stop loss order?

Using a stop-loss order is highly recommended by and for most traders in the stock market. However, the Stock Trend Investing system does not have any stop-loss orders.

This is controversial. Why don’t I use them? We will explain here using a few different scenarios.

In summary, you can say that we do not use stop loss orders at Stock Trend Investing because we are long-term investors and not frequent traders. That requires some further explanation.

As long-term trend investors, we want to capitalize on trends that last many months or years. On average, we see that the long-term trend only changes direction once in the two or three years.