Short-Covering Stalls for Lack of ‘Good’ News

Wednesday’s asphyxiating tedium was a reminder that DaBoyz are in no rush to take stocks higher, especially if the short-covering needed to do so is absent. Usually, bear buying-binges are driven by “good” news. On this particular day, however, the headlines concerned a State of the Union speech that held little interest for Wall Street. Toss in the usual bilge concerning political bickering, Mueller’s supposed investigation and such, and you begin to see why ginning up a rally would have been so difficult.

Nevertheless, the chart of AAPL (see inset), which has regained its leadership status as the bear rally has progressed, looks constructive. One could argue that the stock, as well as a few others controlled by institutions, are in a bullish holding pattern pending “news” capable of goading bears into doing some heavy lifting. It’s hard to imagine what the news will be, although rehashing the Fed’s policy shift toward “not tightening” has gotten fabulous mileage so far.

  • THOMAS WHITE February 7, 2019, 10:15 pm

    Rick- Thanks for your reply.. I am a subscriber. By the “few others controlled by institutions” do you mean BA, AMZN, FB, GOOG, NFLX, MSFT, HD? Have I guessed wrong and/or missed one or two? As one of the “new guys,” another thing perplexes me… Who are these institutions, DaBoyz among them, that control the market and whose veiled, and perhaps coordinated, actions have led you to conclude that the market is rigged (which assessment I don’t disagree with)? Do these institutions have names (just a few to give me a sense, please) and is the list pretty darn long? I still think that it would be helpful to explain what it is about the AAPL price action that presents a bullish outlook (in your view)–especially if it isn’t its general ascent of late.

  • THOMAS WHITE February 6, 2019, 8:24 pm

    Rick- It would be nice to see some lines (trend lines, for example) that for the less-experienced of us would make obvious why the price action in AAPL evidences its (near-term) bullish outlook. Also, you allude to “a few others controlled by institutions” that share the same favorable price action… I may not have been “following along” as closely as I should have, and it would be helpful if you would, please, explicitly list those darlings. Thank you.

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    I rarely reference trendlines, Thomas, because everyone else does and that makes them unreliable. Also, for the sake of brevity and succinctness, I shun ‘newspaper-style’ writing, where it is assumed that readers know nothing. I invite you to tune into Rick’s Picks via a free trial subscription that will allow you to get the most from my forecasts and analysis. Please say hello when you visit the chat room. The sign-up link is at the top of my home page — http://www.rickackerman.com — no credit card necessary
    . RA