The bulls should like the way the market's been acting the last few days. It's dropped on low(er) volume and rose on higher volume. The Dow climbed back over 11,000 and missed it's 2006 high by 9 cents. The S&P 500 rose above its 50-day moving average today and the Nasdaq is perched just below its 50 DMA.
I'm seeing a good number of long setups in individual stocks -- a few are posted below. Keep in mind that this is an expiration week, so the strike pinning games may start any minute now.
I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow, with Bernanke testifying. I imagine that trading would be muted but I guess that's largely dependent on what he says and how he says it. I normally take Thursday and Friday of expiration weeks off but I'm going to change that up this month. I'm going to start my weekend right now. I've got some other stuff I'd like to get done and given the Fed testimony, expiration, the range-bound trading and a holiday on Monday I think I should just step aside until next Tuesday. So I'll 'see' you all next week (unless something important happens and I have to post about it.)
Below are charts of the Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Fluor Corp. (FLR), Joy Global (JOYG), Sohu.com (SOHU) and Pan American Silver (PAAS):
Mike,
Stepping aside was a good idea this week as the market hasn’t proven anything to me at this point. The New High-New Low ratio (weekly average) will jump up this week from last week but it will not surpass the highs from January. Another reason that I am not playing offense is the lack of quality leaders in this current run (large cap and cyclical stocks are leading the way this week (not my cup of tea).
Bottom line: holding off until next Tuesday seems to be a good idea! Enjoy the weekend.