Negotiations on government shutdown, US-China trade likely to move market

US stocks skyrocketed last week after reports that Washington and Beijing were close to a trade agreement, but mixed earnings and the ongoing partial government shutdown could cause the rally to pause this week.

After what strategists said was an unsustainable bout of pessimism in December, the pendulum may already have swung too far into exuberant territory in January.

Last week was the fourth straight week of gains and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by more than 12 per cent since Dec 26.

"Clearly, it's quite fast," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. "At some point you're going to see consolidation."

There are several reasons to believe…