High Frequency Chopp Fest

Buy the rumor and sell the fact.
Summer markets are characterized by light volume, low liquidity, and as Europe rotates into July/August vacation mode this will only make trading more volatile.

The magical 10,500 level in Dow cash has us catching our breath. There looks to be a nice double bottom on the daily charts at 9800. We’ve had a 700 point rally from 9800 to today’s high at 10,594. That tends to silence the doom and gloom bears faster than a care of pepper spray. They can pontificate all they want about the myriad of reasons why we shouldn’t have rallied.
Bottom line, […]

Sunday Night Rally Lead by Asia

Will China really let the Yuan float? The very thought of it has enthused dormant bulls in Asia, and I believe, as the sun comes up on the East Cost of the USA this morning, traders who are not on vacation will be looking in their closets for their rally shoes.
Even those on vacation, may very well look for their rally flip flops, in anticipation of some follow through here this week.
This should translate well for commodities, as well, as corn wheat and beans are all up nicely this night.
In general, I’ve always liked going home long over a weekend in the […]

Dow looks to have its Summer Bottom in Place

9875 looks to be our Summer bottom. With the un ending dog and pony show sputtering to a stand off in Europe, it seems, the the rest of the world is holding its nose and staying with the US equities. We’ve seen everyone, right down to the Iranians, re own dollars.

The entire world seems to be in the out-house, wretching. However, the US has the largest out house, and, more importantly, has 15 carrier task forces at its disposal.
That leaves us the best alternative out of an alternative of weak choices.

As I write this, the Dow cash is up 87 points […]

Skewed Reality

I am really starting to believe that in short order, will be looking at a skewed version of reality. Like walking through the carnival hall of mirrors, fat can look thin in the right light and with the right curve of the glass.

With Unemployment technically at 9.7 percent after Friday’s unemployment number. The disconcerting part of the number was that 400+ of the jobs were public sector. Plus, if you read about the way they are counting census workers, it makes the whole number suspect. Remember in a month they can be re adjusted and we could swing + or – 100K or […]

Summer Doldrums Starting Early

Here we are June 1st and the doldrums are upon us. I believe that we will have a very subdued trading climate for the rest of Summer as the world continues to digest the events of the last 6 months. My feeling is that we are reaching an exhaustion point concerning the level of distress.
Like the rats in a BF Skinner Psychology experiment, traders both large and small are moving towards the point of ‘learned helplessness’. To refresh your memory, there is an experiment where a rat in a controlled environment has a totally random experience as to when they receive a reward […]

Re Print of May 8th blog- Thank you Newsweek

Given the level of fear and loathing of the financial markets coming out of Asia and Europe, I think I am looking for a further pull back.
Is this the end of the world?
No, but the market was due for a pull back.
We did get a 62% retracement of the 2007-2009 market of characterized by projectile vomiting of all ownership of all equities. The recent highs we were enjoying just
3 weeks ago were : 4/26/10 we saw a high in the cash Dow at 11,258. More importantly, we saw 3 days in a row 4/23, 4/27 and 4/28 with settlements […]

Volatility is the only constant

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is frequently confused with the “observer effect”. The uncertainty principle actually describes how precisely we may measure the position and momentum of a particle at the same time — if we increase the precision in measuring one quantity, we are forced to lose precision in measuring the other. Thus, the uncertainty principle deals with measurement, and not observation. The idea that the Uncertainty Principle is caused by disturbance (and hence by observation) is not considered to be valid by some,[who?] although it was extant in the early years of quantum mechanics, and is often repeated in popular treatments

To Quote Wickepedia, […]

Born in the USA

Bruce Springsteen’s most famous and commercialized song is actually a protest song, if you really listen to the words. In the 80’s, when he wrote it, is almost seemed an homage to Pete Segre’s “This land is your land, This land is my land”, also a protest song.
I remember how mad the Boss got when Regan’s support team in the GOP, for a very short time, tried playing it as a positive for their rallies.
Bruce Springsteen is decidedly liberal, and he was incensed at the time. Like a lot of entertainers with working class roots, Bruce seems to think its OK for […]

Where is the support? I’d say down at 50%

Perhaps as traders we should heed the old adage, sell in May and go away. Take advantage of the coming slow months in equities.
Thursday was only a 30 perecent correction. I would be more interested in a 50% pullback as a chance to get in, fade the misery, and pick up some bargins.
50 percent back in the Dow Cash would be
8861. 50% in the SP500 Cash is 942.50.
Ironically, Cramer on CNBC, juat this Friday said don’t buy the Dow until 9000. I wonder where he got that big idea? I guess he has a calcultor too. I will say that […]

Where is the support? I'd say down at 50%

Perhaps as traders we should heed the old adage, sell in May and go away. Take advantage of the coming slow months in equities.
Thursday was only a 30 perecent correction. I would be more interested in a 50% pullback as a chance to get in, fade the misery, and pick up some bargins.
50 percent back in the Dow Cash would be
8861. 50% in the SP500 Cash is 942.50.
Ironically, Cramer on CNBC, juat this Friday said don’t buy the Dow until 9000. I wonder where he got that big idea? I guess he has a calcultor too. I will say that […]