MSFT swam against a heavy tide Friday, apparently because Bill Ackman ann0unced he has built a $2.1 billion stake in the company. That’s chicken feed relative to MSFT’s immense cap value, but it was manifestly enough to touch off a headless-chicken scramble of short covering. The pattern within which the stock’s 3% rally occurred is bullish and projects to 464.66, a 10% move from here. I have my doubts the stock deserves that kind of mark-up, but I will not let this bias cloud my judgment if buyers tear through the midpoint Hidden Pivot at 431.34,  That would imply ‘D’ is likely to be reached, which, given the company’s premier bellwether status, would have bullish implications for the stock market as a whole. _______ UPDATE (May 21, 8:50 a.m.): Far from tearing through the 431.24 pivot, the futures retreated $20 after exceeding it slightly. Yet another attempt (the first failure was on May 7) would imply the rally off the 356.28 low recorded on March 30 is merely corrective and unlikely to exceed the 464.66 target of the upwardly corrective pattern. New record highs are therefore unlikely coming any time soon.