In a Perfect World

One cannot simultaneously be a trader and a market ideologue. Of course, we all have our biases about how the markets "should" behave but that's in a perfect world. We aren't in that world. I personally would have liked to see more consolidation and level testing in the S&P...

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Catching a Falling Knife

It looks like volatility is back. The S&P500 traded within a 19-point range today, seeing highs near 1977 and lows near 1958. The day closed just south of 1965 to finish in the red. A linear channel shows a downward drift in $SPX If you believe that the trend is your...

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Summer Into Fall

The S&P500 closed just south of 1978 today after trading within a 15-point range. We saw a strong late-day 10-point rally which nearly drove the index positive for the day. Supports and resistance in $SPX Where are we headed from here? Let's take a look at some historical...

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So What Now?

The fat lady finally sang last Friday when $BABA was unleashed onto NYSE. Shares rose as high as 33%, pushing up the S&P500 to an all-time high near 2020 and the Nasdaq to a post-2001 high of 4580. Some big players took this opportunity to take some handsome profits: Current...

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All Quiet on the Western Front

Today was the 5th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the markets were all quiet on the Western front. Today's front page of Google Finance A quick glance at Google Finance's front page showed lackadaisical sideways action in the US indexes interjected with...

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In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion

The S&P500 closed today at 1997.5 bringing us back to now the 12th day of the S&P 2000 tango. The 1996 level which I pointed out was the critical pivot for this dance was breached again today bringing us less than 3 points from the valuable 2000 level for the index. Reaching...

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It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Sings

The S&P500 finally rejected the 2000 level after spending 11 days trying to hold the line. After $AAPL failed to please the Street, we saw a 10 point free fall in the index with 1986 acting as the first level of support: Where are we headed from here? Let's take a look...

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Fools and Dead Men

The S&P500 closed today just north of the 2000 millennial mark, making today the 10th consecutive day that the markets have wrestled with this level. Last week I mentioned that market sentiment was largely bearish in regards to this major milestone, and indeed, we did see...

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2000: An S&P500 Odyssey

Today the S&P500 rejected the psychological and technical level of 2000 and closed the day just north of 1997.5 My resistance/support and pivot levels for the S&P as an added bonus A few days ago, I talked about the fact that the markets were largely betting on...

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Atlas Shrugged

The S&P500 has shrugged around the 2000 level for a full week, which discounting the Labor Day weekend, translates to five full trading days. Volume: Green: Calls; Red: Puts (Log scale) The burden of geopolitical instability weighed down on market optimism today despite...

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