When the Mini-Dow futures broke above 13600 on Friday not long after the opening bell, we put out a bulletin in the chat room predicting they would reach a minimum 13680 shortly thereafter. The initial A-B thrust looked pretty powerful from a Hidden Pivot perspective, surpassing no fewer than three previous peaks that had been made earlier in the week. But no sooner had the futures broken through the clouds than they turned 180 degrees and plunged back to Earth. Here it is on a 15-minute chart: (Click on chart to enlarge) You could chalk it up to end-of-quarter volatility, or subprime jitters, but any way you cut it, the Dow Industrials failed to convert an unusually strong opening into a romp-and-ream-'em running of the bears. We should be asking ourselves, when is the last time we've seen Da Boyz pass up an opportunity like that? But, you say, maybe stocks simply ran out of gas after the opening flurry. We don't think so. The turn from the morning's highs was so sharp that it looked more like a failure of nerve to us. In our experience, and absent any Friday Follies-type news, powerfully impulsive rallies do not simply blow past three prior peaks, only to reverse just as sharply and dive for cover. We'll say it once again: Something has changed. The volatile swings that are beginning to manifest themselves with increasing frequency on the lesser charts hint that something bigger is disturbing investors. We shall see. With the Fourth of July holiday just a few days away, seasonality is due to ratchet up bullishness to an irresistible pitch. If the Indoos can't punch through to new highs next week, or at least rattle shorts' cages a little, our suspicion will only grown that the bull has been infected with a
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