Bears Acting More Like Scared Rabbits

Like frightened little rabbits, shorts panicked once again late in the session, goosing the Dow 100 points in the final 30 minutes (see chart below). In the end, predictably, they wound up doing exactly what they had sought to avoid.  Don’t these guys understand that if they all hung together and chilled for a rare change, the broad averages would come cascading down like a tropical downpour, ending a selling drought that has persisted for more than a year. You’d think that the May 6 “clerical accident” might have emboldened at least some of the “Don’t Pass” bettors. Evidently not.

Run, rabbit, run...

The way things stood Thursday afternoon, the rabbits had only set themselves up for more punishment later in the day, since nothing short of Armageddon could cause DaBoyz to relinquish the choke-hold they had around the rabbits’ necks at the closing bell. A silly image, we know – a mustachioed, Simon Legree character with a bunny locked in his armpit, its little pink eyes bulging from their sockets. But in truth, those who have been betting against the market lately don’t deserve to be called bears. They don’t roar, they don’t rear up ferociously on their hinds when challenged — they just nibble on lettuce and extrude little pellets when nervous.

Fresh Pellets

Friday morning could produce a fresh pile of pellets if there’s any good news on the tape to help DaBoyz maintain their short-squeeze choke-hold. The Dow closed at 10434, but according to our proprietary Hidden Pivot forecasting system, there’s 138 points of open space just above if bulls are in command at the bell.  That implies a run-up to at least 10582, which is the next place the rabbits could attempt to impede the rally without getting damaged too badly, at least not right away. But if the pullback we might expect from 10582 proves feeble or short-lived, woe to the bunnies, since they could wind up chasing the blue chip average all the way up to 11000 before they get a real breather.

A Bullseye in Gold

Speaking of the Hidden Pivot forecasting system, it produced a bullseye in Comex Gold yesterday after we’d sent out a heads-up to subscribers the night before identifying a 1250.30 target for the August contract. The futures did in fact rally $20 — precisely to 1250.30 — before tracing out a shallow correction over the next two hours. We expect the next leap to achieve 1272.60 just as precisely and easily. Judging from how quickly the futures got second wind yesterday, a move to that Hidden Pivot could occur as early as Friday morning.

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  • johnjay June 20, 2010, 10:46 pm

    I think most of the market moves on the Dow/S+P are GS/JPM/Hegde funds/etc. intramural sport.
    If deflation continues most people will be avoiding the casino, especially if the muni bond market starts imploding. I myself am about done searching for conservative funds that won’t go Ponzi on me. I think I will keep about 5% for the futures market day trading and park the rest in insured CDs for whatever I can get.
    Deflation makes it a smart move, I don’t need any home runs, just to keep what I have. You are as likely to get robbed going for 7 or 8 percent as you are going for 100 percent gains in this world. Everyday I see another Ponzi scheme imploding in the newspaper for 30 or 100 million dollars with investors getting wiped out. Very sobering.

  • Robert June 18, 2010, 7:25 pm

    Watching Gold as a contrarian indicator.

    Today’s rapid rise in the metals could embolden the amateur bears to get over zealous on the short side in equities, giving the big money the opportunity to come out on Monday with both guns blazing on the buy side… I could see a repeat of Thursday happening.

    Still, the technicals and fundamentals seem to lining up well enough for an intermediate term spec play, so I’ll buy some RSW with a tight trailing stop at the close today if today’s early top gets taken out, or on Monday afternoon (if we close weaker today)…

  • mario cavolo June 18, 2010, 7:05 pm

    ..this bounce rally in stocks and gold pisses me off enormously (which also reveals my weakness to simply trade price action and not care either way). The fact is, the primary reason it can and does come along is because the market is a place where traders can play with their money at the current zero interest rates. With the FED holding interest rates down and housing being a lousy investment still (the China bubble game has come an end for the moment), there’s no place else to put your money..risk/reward risk on/risk off wax on/wax off Mr. Miyagi…Cheers, Mario

    • gary leibowitz June 18, 2010, 9:38 pm

      Thats how bubbles are formed. Chasing, or more appropriately funneling your money into the only vehicle available.

      I must be an extremely pessimistic guy to conclude that after 15 months unemployment is near its highs, deflation pressure is as strong as ever, and the consumer is struggling. If you look at just earnings then the assumption going forward is a consumer lead recover. Don’t see it. Wall Street will have to bring down their numbers, and when they do it will provide a wake-up call. End of month window dressing should play out soon.

  • Jim June 18, 2010, 4:32 pm

    This Friday morning?

    • gary leibowitz June 18, 2010, 6:44 pm

      Nope. the 25th. I don’t make up these dates, just try to make assumptions on how strong the trend change will be.

  • gary leibowitz June 18, 2010, 3:21 pm

    I can’t understand why you would consider a rally off the recent lows so startling or even frustrating. I believe all pre-crash moves have always had a last gasp rally that calms the masses. Take emotions out of this equation and you have a very over bought market. 15 months after the first event we see housing falling again, retail sales stalling, debt/credit contagion hitting the rest of the world, deflation winning out, inability of the world bank and G7 to inflate their way out of this quagmire. While the market can “hope and pray” this is only temporary, history and fundamentals will indicate just the opposite. There has never been an immediate “sustained” recovery coming off an economically derived crash.

    Fundamentals are even more glaring. Deflation pressures, weak revenue growth, high unemployment, China slowing, and structural debt problems world wide.

    On a technical note I had mentioned before that “if” this is the prelude to another crash scenario then the moves from the last few months make perfect sense. Human psychology always take the center stage during emotionally high times. This market is being driven by pure emotions and there is a buildup of very negative forward looking fundamnetal news that will come front and center.

    If my fibonacci dates are accurate this mini-rally should end by next friday. While there is no forensic evidence to determine which turn-date is a major trend change, logic and circumstance would indicate that the next one will be big.

  • Rich June 18, 2010, 5:08 am

    Nice gold call precision Rick.
    Can hardly believe made money on SLV calls today.
    Still selling other market strengths….