Down Day

A strong sell-off in the afternoon for the indexes today. The DJIA did a little bounce off the 200EMA. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq100 are now mid-way between the 100 & 200 EMA's. A nervous sell-off, but things are still holding positive. Things can certainly go either way (my opinion is up from here).

Buy in May and stay 'til Labor Day?

So, the saying goes "Sell in May and Go Away." Well, that wasn't the case last May (the S&P saw a 3+% increase, and the DJIA gained +4%), and currently things are looking like we could have a push higher. The three major indexes had their 20EMA's cross up into their 50's, while the 200EMA is providing some resistance. The U.S.Dollar index had a strong push up, gold is going down, the Fed might be cutting rates again, positive earnings are provoking buyers...I'm almost fooled into thinking May will see bulls making an effort to revamp the technical landscape.
DJIAS&P500Nasdaq

lame-onday

so much for follow-through

The excitement of a potential "bottom" was put in check today. It's kinda laughable when, after one day, the talking heads start stirring up speculation of an all's-good scenario.
The Nasdaq erased all gains from yesterday.
The S&P500 and the DJIA both gave away most of their gains from yesterday leaving us with an inside day. The Russell2000 is hurtin' and after today's session we were left with some dark-cloud cover.

Tomorrow is Triple Witching.

Futures took a beating today under some serious liquidation/profit-taking.

bigger, longer, uncut.....

...Marubozu candle that is. The S&P 500 & DJIA opened and closed today at the highs of the session which turned out to form what is called a full Marubozu candle, see also here. The Nasdaq and Russell2000 were almost, but not quite, Marubozu candles and all closed above their 20-day EMA's.
DJIA
S&P500Nasdaq100Russell2000

the Full Marubozu

Today's session in the DJIA, S&P500 and the Russell2000 left us with a full Marubozu candlestick on relatively strong volume. In such a bearish market we could have expected a corrective phase somewhere along the line. So, we will see where the irrational exuberance leads us.

next test, 2006 lows

We closed at the lows of the session today after a small gap down across the boards. Below these levels we have June and July 2006 lows to contend with. A break-down of the indexes is as follows:
S&P500 is 19+% below October '07 highs and 4.25% away from June '06 lows.

Nasdaq is 24+% from October '07 highs and 7.2% away from the lows of July '06.

DJIA is 17.3% from October '07 highs and 9% away from July '06 lows.

Bear day

Sizable open for the markets after the extended weekend only to sell-off later in the day. The way things are setting up seems like more downside to come (looks a bit bear-flag-ish). 18 of the last 22 days have closed below the 1363.98 level on the S&P500 index, which is the low from March 14, 2007. Meanwhile, commodities are getting comfortable in their upper range of their 52-week price channels. From Wheat to Soybeans, Silver to Oil, the bull market in commodities runs on. Gold was up over $20/oz. today to settle at $929.80/oz. and Oil finally closed above (barely) $100/barrel.
Meanwhile, some stocks that aren't feeling the bear market pain include: DVN, PBR, CHK, COG, HP, KWK, XEC, RRC, MTL, MOS

Markets finally up strong

Did the market suck in a bunch of bulls only to cut them off at the knees tomorrow? We shall see. A good sign I think was the amount of buying that happened later in the day, rather than the last hour selling we've been seeing for so long now.

Short Squeeze

We had a huge end-of-day rally yesterday after testing the previous day's low. Like clockwork the 3 O'clock hour brought all the short sellers in to cover their positions, which drove the S&P500 up over 45 points.

Where we Stand

The DJIA, S&P, and Nasdaq all gapped down and sold off sharply this morning only to rally back for a gap fill and then chop around sideways for the rest of the day. All three indices have crossed their short-term EMA's (50-day EMA) under their long-term (200-day EMA). The DJIA 50-day EMA hasn't been under its 200-day since October of '05 (it happened in June of '06 for the Nasdaq and April '05 for the S&P).
The question remains; is this the bottom? Has all of the selling been exhausted? It's not usual to see a V-bottom in major index sell-offs. So it would seem that we should be waiting to see a test of this mornings lows for the rest of the week before we see a push higher and get heavy buyers coming into the market.

Nearly There

We're nearly in an "official" Bear Market? Technically (depending on the opinion), a Bear Market is one which is measured by the S&P500 being off 20% (after having increased by over 20%). So, we're mid-way between a "correction" (S&P500 down in the 10% range) and a bear market on the S&P, and nearly in a technical bear market in the Nasdaq. Currently we're 15.92% off of the S&P500 highs. Nasdaq down 18.22% from its high and the DJIA down 15.71% from its highs.