From the Trading Desk
It all began in Japan where the Nikkei hit an all-time high only to end its day lower down by more than 7%. Selling swept the globe where Europe was hit hard, but it was the United States market to see some resiliency. A better than expected Jobless Claims figure did help the mood, but [...]
It was about time we saw the market close lower on heavy volume. At one point the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 155 points. The market was clearly focused in on Ben Bernanke’s testimony and prepared comments then it would turn its attention to the release of the Fed’s meeting minutes. Hints [...]
Void of economic releases the market did get showered with more than $3 billion in asset purchases from the Federal Reserve. A hiccup in the morning was quickly support as the Federal Reserve Open Market Operations flooded the market with fresh new cash. Over Europe the DAX closed in the green for the 11th straight [...]
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Volume Jumps as Leading Stocks Slump
A big distribution day strikes the market, but the real story is how leading stocks fared in today’s session. While we can focus on INTC, AA, or CSCO the real story is how leading stocks acted today and what they are foreshadowing. Distribution days happen in uptrends and are quite normal. However, today’s action in leading stocks foreshadows a very bleak picture for the market ahead. While AAPL price wise held up okay volume was much higher suggesting sellers are winning the battle. Our major market averages are above their respective 50 day moving averages, but it does not appear underneath it all things are looking good.
One major leading stock happens to be QCOR and today’s reversal after yesterday’s big point gain smells quite FISHY! Other leading stocks like ISRG, PCLN, FOSL, CMG, and LULU are breaking down and are not playing nice in the sandbox. This action usually spells out trouble for the market even though our distribution day count is low. It is never a good sign when your leading stocks get pounded and is often a sign for more trouble ahead.
Tomorrow will be an interesting day in an option expiry week. We get the FOMC meeting minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting. I am sure the market will be itching to see if the Fed talked about further bond buying or what we like to call MONEY PRINTING. Quantitative easing or money printing or monetizing debt which ever you prefer is something the market has been hoping on. We’ll see if the Fed talked anything about more bond buying. At this point, what else will it do other than monetize our debt and make us become more like Japan? For now, this is all speculation and the action we are seeing is quite negative for the market.
There are many headwinds facing this market and many of them are known. However, what the media calls “headline risk” is simply a non-factor for trend followers. We follow price not what Mandy says on CNBC is breaking news.
Cut those losses.