Yesterday’s plunge generated the first bearish impulse leg we’ve seen on the daily chart in nearly six weeks. But is it any more threatening than the one recorded in early April, which reversed precisely on target to produce a rally to new record highs? My gut feeling is that, yes, the stock market’s second consecutive failure to achieve more than a marginal new high is going to weigh more heavily on investors’ greedy/fearful minds than the first. At the very least, it warrants hoisting a yellow flag lest we grow complacent about the possibility of an avalanche out of nowhere.  And make no mistake, that is how it will happen: with a few days of mild selling that instead of abating gathers strength like a hurricane over warm seas. A very bullish rally target at 171.67 remains viable nonetheless, and I’d be thrilled with the opportunity to get short there. But we may have to settle for less — far less — if the stock market’s labored action since February turns out to be the start of a bear market rather than a correction. We’ll know more after we’ve seen how far the nascent ‘a-b’ impulse leg travels, and what kind of follow-through ‘c-d’ leg it generates.