Friday, August 20, 2010

The futures at least crept past the lower of two rally targets we've been using, 1236.70, and now presumably will take on the second at 1244.20. As noted here earlier, scale-out profit-taking is advised for swing traders still long, as well as the use of a "dynamic" trailing stop as described on this site's educational page.

I drum-rolled a 1040.25 downside target in the chat room yesterday, and it still looks like a no-brainer. A plunge to that number should be viewed as likely if and when the midpoint support with which it is associated, 1069.25, gives way. The so-far three-tick penetration of the support was not sufficient for us to have inferred that the jig was up yet for DaSleazeballs, who were hard at work near the close attempting to make a distribution opportunity out of a pathetic five-point rally.

This week's consolidation has occurred entirely below an 83.03 peak recorded on July 23, so the potency of the larger, bullish pattern begun on August 6 is suspect. It projects to 84.30, but because the pattern itself is sausage-y, we should assume for starters that more consolidation is needed before much of anything happens for bulls.

It's explosive days like yesterday that serve to remind us of Bonds' strong propensity to go against weakness in the broad averages. To the extent I am increasing the drum beat for the "sky-is-falling" argument, I am implicitly saying that a powerful upthrust awaits in this vehicle.  More immediately, and considering the ease with which the 134^09 Hidden Pivot gave way, I'll hang a 135^09 target out as a minimum upside objective for now -- and 140^20 if it fails..  The provenance of the first number is shown in the accompanying chart, but there are any number of other bullish ABCs that I could have used.  Anyway, we are not trying to short this vehicle so much as find explanations for the behavior of other markets that take their cues from it.  Meanwhile, it cannot make anyone feel "safer" that so much of the world's investment capital is pouring into one allegedly "safe" haven.  As Marc Faber has said, people will want to cross the icy river where the greatest number of people are crossing it, but that's hardly the way to ensure one's safety.

The Dow looks to be in the throes of a 420-point plunge, even if sellers were unable to deliver the haymaker yesterday that would have put bulls down for the count. At the final bell, the drop amounted to only 144 points, although it would have been closer to 200 points at the day’s lows.  If our prediction of a further 276-point fall over the very near-term pans out, pushing the blue chip average slightly below 10000, that would be just a very small downpayment on all of the plunging the Dow will still have to do to catch up with a U.S. and global economy that have begun to relapse into deep coma. Dow 5000, anybody?  Whatever happens, it seems clear already that the highs achieved by the broad averages earlier this month marked a last hurrah for the most recent bear-rally cycle, and that the major bear market begun from Dow 14198 in October of 2007 has resumed. In retrospect, it’s hard to imagine how DaBoyz could have succeeded to the extent they did this summer, manipulating an 1100-point surge in the Dow Industrials since early July. The economic landscape hasn’t looked as dark since the early days of the Great Depression. Unemployment will only rise in the months, or perhaps years, ahead; real estate prices have failed to respond to trillions of dollars worth of direct and indirect stimulus; and all of the Government’s bailouts have produced not even an iota of sustainable economic growth. Put all of these factors together, and many not mentioned, and Wall Street pros who bought into the rally should be wondering, “What were we thinking?” Threat Is Waxing Looking ahead, although a bout of further weakness might be satisfying to those who have yearned to see stocks get in line, finally,