Stocks closed lower on Friday and for the week. That makes it three weeks in a row.

Rough start to the new year.

The Dow and the S&P remain in 'pullback' territory (-7.27% and -8.73% respectively). And the Nasdaq remains in 'correction' territory (-15.1%).

Pullbacks, which are defined as a decline between -5% and -9.99%, happen on average of 3-4 times a year.

And corrections, which are defined as a decline between -10% and -19.99%, happen roughly once a year.

The Dow and the S&P pulled back 3 times last year. But ultimately gained 18.7% and 26.9% for the year.

The Nasdaq corrected once last year, and finished with a gain of 21.4%.

So what we're seeing right now is not unusual. In fact, pullbacks and corrections are common.

Every bull market has them.

While they're never fun when they're happening, if you know these are commonplace moves, you can instead look at them as opportunities to buy rather than places to sell.

For me, each additional step back means we are getting closer to the pullback/correction being over. Not to mention the opportunity of getting in at even cheaper prices.

And the sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we can get back to the bull market rally.

In other news, the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index increased by 0.8% in December to 120.8. That makes it 3 months in a row after increasing 0.7% in both October and November. Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director of Economic Research at the Conference Board said, "the U.S. LEI ended 2021 on a rising trajectory, suggesting the economy will continue to expand well into the spring."

This week we'll get the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, and the PMI Composite Index.

And earnings season picks up steam with another 551 companies reporting this week.

Next week we'll get another 656 companies. And the week after that we'll get 895.

Earnings season is always an exciting time for stocks, since stocks typically go up during earnings season, last week notwithstanding.

The market seems ripe for a bounce. After being down every week so far this year, and every day last week, sure feels like one is coming.

So be ready. And make sure you take full advantage of it.

See you tomorrow,