(Note: I'm still on vacation. Posting will resume its normal pace in mid-September.)
I guess the Plunge Protection Team really likes Fridays. Both Bush and Big Ben were hard at work on Friday propping things up instilling confidence. After all the drama this month the S&P 500 was actually up just over 1% for the month. That was probably one of the most volatile 1% gains in a long time. Here's a look at the S&P chart:
The recovery from the mid-month low looks OK except for the lack of volume. Perhaps we can blame the volume on the approach to Labor Day weekend but I still would like to see some stronger volume for me to believe in this rally attempt. Still, I think the true test will be what happens after the FOMC meeting on September 18th.
It's a similar story for the Nasdaq except that it's showing a bit more strength than the S&P. Bulls should want to see it take out the August high.
The small cap Russell 2000 continues to bring up the rear. It's languishing beneath its 200-day moving average.
| Trend | Nasdaq | S&P 500 | Russell 2000 |
| Primary | Up | Lat | Down |
| Intermediate | Lat | Lat | Down |
| Short-term | Up | Up | Up |
(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
Lat Indicates a Lateral trend
*** I'm simply using the indices' relations to their 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages to tell me the long, intermediate and short-term trends, respectively.
