Stocks posted their biggest gains in nearly two months on Tuesday as retail sales figures allayed fears over the economy that had driven a six-week slump in the market.

Many analysts said the rally was likely a one-day wonder. Though still weak, the retail sales data was not as bad as most had expected, which provided an excuse to buy after the market had neared its most oversold conditions in a year.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 123.14 points, or 1.03 percent, to 12,076.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 16.04 points, or 1.26 percent, to 1,287.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 39.03 points, or 1.48 percent, to 2,678.72.

Expectations for further selling this summer hovered in the background even as the market rallied. (commentary & photo courtesy of Reuters)

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In yesterday’s blog, that I didn’t publish, I commented on setting a trailing stop on SRTY, the ultra short R2000 fund. I did set the trail, but I didn’t realize that because of a process error it wasn’t enabled. Thus the trailing stop order wasn’t placed. It was an unforced error on my part. So today, I should have booked a +2.0R profit only to see that it had dropped to only a +1.0R gain. Consequently the RSI portfolio was flat rather than showing a +1.0R gain. It puts me on notice to double check all future orders and tighten up my procedures.

There were no RSI buy signals today.