Monday, March 9, 2009

Friday's silliness in the final hour left the futures hovering near the 6630 Hidden Pivot midpoint -- now resistance -- of a bearish pattern that projects to

The new web site is up and running, as you can see, but we've delayed the launch of the new chat room for a day or two because it was overloading the server during Sunday's trial run. Some old features will be added back in shortly, including "Actionable Advice" and "Open Positions," but it will take some time to archive the thousands of old touts that were accessible on the old site. You can call up recent commentaries and touts, though, by simply clicking on the calendar at right.

Friday's lows near 666 smashed the Hidden Support at 675.50 that we've been fixated on, suggesting that still lower prices are imminent. Accordingly, my downside target for the week is

The dollar has opened soft Sunday night, giving back about half of the gains off Friday's retracement low. The bottom so far has been 88.12, but DXY would need to fall just a bit more, to a midpoint support at 88.04

All of Friday's action, as well as Sunday night's, has taken place beneath a look-to-the-left peak recorded in the throes of last Monday's decline. This suggests the futures are in no great hurry to fulfill the bullish potential of last Thursday's $30 launch. Odds would shift in bulls' favor, however, if

As General Motors goes, so goes the nation? There was a time when this was very nearly true – never moreso than in 1955, when the company became the first to pay taxes of more than $1 billion. Now, with GM a heartbeat from flatlining, policymakers are still wrangling about the funeral arrangements. We should pay close attention to the process, since it could bring our leaders to acknowledge that it is not in the nation’s best interest to keep a failed business on a respirator, especially when doing so consumes billions of taxpayer dollars per week.   Deal forthrightly with GM and perhaps our leaders will be sufficiently emboldened to let some big banks fail. A couple of Republicans floated this idea on TV Sunday morning, and so far it appears they have lived to tell about it.  We should all be heartened when such a simple and sensible idea does not provoke a firestorm on Capitol Hill. Expect the issue to resurface as soon as a seemly interval has passed to allow GM to segue into the hereafter.   No Featherbedding   Actually, the “structured” bankruptcy that is being planned for the automaker will leave open the possibility of reincarnation. Could GM come back as a lean, mean and innovative producer of motor vehicles?  You bet it could. We have never doubted that such a goal lies within the grasp of Yankee know-how.  GM without the drag of featherbedding and retiree health care benefits could be delivering solar-powered cars to buyers even before the Japanese perfect hybrid technology. This, or something like it, is the answer for American car manufacturers, and the only reason they haven’t been able to accomplish it so far is that the old ways of producing had become entrenched. The unions and management can