Rick Ackerman

It's possible some subscribers are still long from Friday's bottom since the 1359.00 correction target I'd disseminated the night before caught the low of a $35 bounce within two ticks. The rally was only mildly impulsive, however, since it sputtered out just shy of an important 'external' peak at 1400.00 recorded a day earlier.  It must be displayed on the 30-minute chart to be usable, however (see inset). In that context, buyers have yet to push past midpoint resistance at 1397.60, and so that will remain our minimum upside target as long as the point 'C' low at 1380.30 remains intact. Once 1397.60 has been breached by more than 1.00 point or so, the 1414.90 Hidden Pivot (aka 'D') with which it's associated will be in play. Traders should note that there is enough distance between 1397.60 and the obvious peak at 1400.00 to set up a nice entry point if there's a b-c pullback from somewhere in-between. ________ UPDATE (September 9, 6:52 p.m. EDT): Zzzzzzz. Yesterday's constipated action left my recommendation unchanged.

Google's sharp reversal after breaching a red-line support suggest not only that DaBoyz still have their eyes on $1000, but that their strategy for getting there will be a take-no-prisoners approach. We attempted earlier without success to get into some bull spreads centered on the $1000 strike, but it's probably time to think about trying again. We'll wait for a pullback, however, since the rally off the recent low at 845 is starting to look a little overdrawn. Stay tuned. _______ UPDATE (September 17, 2:33 p.m. EDT): With the stock currently trading near 884, you can continue to bid for the spread -- 0.20 for sixteen of them -- with GOOG 880 or higher. It is currently quoted at 0.30-0.85.

My gut feeling is that stocks are entering a high-odds window for a collapse.  Although I doubt it will occur in time to push our September 140-135 put spreads into the promised land (we hold 16 of them effectively for free), I wouldn't be surprised if the broad averages fall with a vengeance immediately after September expiration.  Accordingly, let's try to buy a dozen October 140 puts for 0.46 today. My goal is to short-sell some October 135 puts against them for at least as much so that we again have no risk. The Dow would need to rise by about 120 points today to get us filled on the 140s, but I'll adjust the price if it looks out of reach. To stay apprised in real time, tune to the chat room or check the 'E-Mail Notifications' box on your My Account page. ________ UPDATE (September 10):  The OPM (Other People's Money) lunatics have control of the stock market right now, so there's no great urgency about buying the puts (which we missed getting yesterday by 2 cents when they traded no lower than 0.48.)  Because DIA-mania has pushed well above the red line (aka 'p') of the ABC pattern shown (see inset, a fresh chart), we should look for more upside over the near term to at least 151.23.  Accordingly, I'll suggest buying 12 October 140 puts if DIA gets within 0.05 of that number.  The puts will be worth about 39 cents at that point, but you should pay no more than 41 cents for them in any case. If you buy them, stop yourself out if they trade down to 29 cents.  Our theoretical risk for this speculative play would be $156 plus commissions. ________ UPDATE (5:45 p.m. EDT): Subscribers reported fills at 0.39, so the

We’ve known all along that The Great Bull Market that began in March of 2009 would end badly, mainly because The Great Recession that brought the economy crashing down 18 months earlier is still very much with us.  Granted, corporate profits have been a bright spot, at least until recently (a modest achievement, considering the trillions in borrowing it has cost us to create the mere appearance of recovery).  But the growth in profits came at the expense of the workers themselves; for in fact, incomes have continued to fall in real terms, accelerating a trend that had been waxing for decades.  With this has come a shrinkage in job opportunities that is due in part to a mismatch between the college degrees that are most popular these days –i.e., basket weaving and feminist studies – and a labor market whose growth has come almost entirely from McJobs and part-time positions. Imploding Job Market Employment prospects for the young are likely to implode in the years ahead for several reasons. For one, baby boomers are no longer able to gracefully vacate their desks and free up positions for new hires because most of the boomers are too strapped to retire.  To make matters worse, the money they had counted on inheriting from their parents has dwindled as the latter have drawn down savings to offset the paltry yields engineered by our stupid, dishonest, corrupt, terminally inept Government.  And then there is Obamacare, presciently labeled “the worst piece of legislation ever” by the Wall Street Journal when it was rammed down our throats a couple of years ago. We have serious doubts that Obamacare will ever be implemented, since the program appears to be asphyxiating under the weight of its own red tape. Even so, businesses have already reshaped themselves to

Yesterday's selloff doesn't look very impressive on the daily chart (see inset), since it amounted to no more than an inside day.  It would take a move through two 'prior' lows to turn this chart impulsively bearish. The possibility cannot be ruled out, but until it happens there is no point in worrying about a day or two of moderate weakness.  The actual print required is 1351.50, a tick beneath the #2 external that I've labeled. In the meantime, if you're looking to get the jump on a bullish turn, you should hunker down on the 5-minute chart, where a 1400.00 print would provide subtle evidence that Gold is lightening up. _______ UPDATE: Gold tanked Thursday after kissing 1400.00 to create a faintly bullish impulse leg on the hourly chart. There was no entry signal following the high, however, since the would-be 'b-c' correction leg just kept on going.  At the close, the futures appeared headed down to at least 1359.00 (a=1431.00 on 8/28), or perhaps 1356.00 if any lower.  Both of these numbers have the potential to produce a tradable bounce, so camouflageurs should pay close heed. _______ UPDATE (September 6, 9:47 a.m.):  Gold this morning has trampolined $35 0ff a 1358.80 low that lay just two ticks from the one predicted at 1359.00.  If you caught a ride from the exact bottom, take a victory lap in the chat room.  Ideally, you should still be long at least 25% of the original position and swinging for the fences.

It can seem like everything is wrong with the world on days when the Dow wafts higher and higher while gold is getting whacked. And so it occurred yesterday, with the Dow gaining nearly 100 points as December Gold fell by $20.  Elsewhere in today's touts  I speculate on the possible meaning of gold's weakness, but as for the Indoos, they'll need an unpaused thrust of about 120 points within the next day or two to turn the daily chart impulsively bullish. I'd rate this no worse than a 50-50 shot at the moment, since the last downtrending ABC pattern went little further than the p midpoint support.  At that point, the big ABC pattern going back to late June's low would be in play, and with it a break-out-the-bubbly target at 15867, along with a midpoint resistance at 15312.  Big stuff.  Should we infer that the USA, egged on by Obama and his new best buddy John McCain, is finally about to win a war?  Naaahhhh!

In observance of Rosh Hashanah, there will be no updates for Friday.  Although that is actually the second day of the observed two-day Jewish New Year's, I plan to publish touts for Thursday because this task will be completed by sundown tonight (Wednesday), when the holiday officially begins.  Also, there will be no change in the schedule due to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, since it begins next Friday at sundown. To all who observe the Jewish high holidays, let me wish you good health, serene contentment and prosperity in the year ahead.

There are some Hidden Pivot resistance points in December Gold that lie just above, but I expect the least most of them to be easily surmounted, perhaps by the time you've read this.  I'd also suggest checking out today's T-Bond tout, since a major low in this vehicle would hold significant implications for all classes of investable assets.

Gold reversed sharply yesterday from just above the 1382.80 midpoint pivot I'd flagged.  That was bullish in itself, but even moreso was the reversal's having generated a bullish impulse leg on the hourly chart. Notice as well that the intraday high came within a hair of the 1414.80 midpoint pivot. That was a logical place for buyers to take a breather, but I expect them to push past the midpoint by no later than Wednesday morning. If so, a two-day close above 1414.80 will put the 1456.00 rally target shown in play. Camouflageurs should look diligently for uptrending ABCs to ride following any pullback from above 1414.80 (aka 'p'). That's because the futures will be signaling a breakout on our terms that relatively few other traders and technicians will have noticed. _________ UPDATE (9:36 a.m. EDT): Last night's takedown occurred after the futures had poked above the 1414.80 benchmark we were using. The overshoot was $1.60 -- mildly bullish but still well shy of the two-day close above the pivot we'd stipulated . The futures are now in 'dueling' mode, but bears would gain the upper hand short-term on a print today beneath Tuesday's 1384.30 low.