An 'absence of bids' seemed to dominate throughout a light-volume (thin) Friday session; and we're not going to extrapolate too much from what was a non-event for the Indexes (whether NYA, Nasdaq or S&P), while even fairly heavy for the very tech stocks (ones we follow among others) at the center of interest in this era.

It's probably that with the 'cats away the mice will play'. Meaning not that retail or smaller players are mousey; but it seem that was the only activity today; for the most part leaning on any intraday rallies that did attempt to get a spark up. That infers 'an absence of bids', and even the selling was somewhat light; and there were no particular news or corporate developments to influence activity.

Market X-ray: with institutional traders clearly not engaged Friday and traders for the most part away on holiday, you had odds and ends stocks, trading with tax gain or tax loss selling appearing in almost alternating (but heavy) fashion, throughout the day.. sort of boring, frustrating and not indicative of anything.

Friday was nastier or just heavier, than the superficial Indexes (which were neutral). I suspect some residual last minute tax adjustments early in the new week; but others will start taking advantage of setbacks to initiate or increase positioning trades for the New Year; which itself may be rocky from a general standpoint; and for our favored tickers, largely dependent on 'contract' and similar awards or 'deals' as may flow during January and February. Cheers!

Just a few comments embedded in the charts; rightly or wrongly I actually can deduce nothing other than year-end shuffles from this kind of a Friday. Worry about geopolitics is out there; peace talks 'in Palm Beach' on Sunday coming; and stories suggest the Pentagon told commanders to put pressure on the Oil tankers out of Venezuela for the next 'couple of months'.

I'm suspicious of that by the way; as while the sailors and Marines might enjoy what amounts to an extended (military version) 'Caribbean cruse' this time of year; the costs of maintaining deployment is not small; and if the military really is going to intervene in Venezuela (whether it's alone or before other action in Cuba for-instance)..they probably want it all wrapped-up by the coming Spring (Spring break?) season.

Not making light about it, because lives are involved, but I suspect the idea of a multi-month 'standoff' with Maduro is entirely feasible; just to 'wear him out' and presume his 'blinks' well before months are needed. Also Cuba depends entirely on Venezuela for fuel (the nationalized Citgo refinery near Maracaibo is one of the world's largest) and Caracas depends on the flow for revenue. It may be that behind-the-scenes some sort of different deal is being cooked-up.

As to the very lame post-Christmas action; my morning 'X' post summed it up:

After a Christmas respite the hangover to start Friday. But with a little coffee and some B12 (hah) we might revive a bit later. Also, Bitcoin on the defensive limits equities (cross asset selling is like returning gifts for refunds then redeploying capital). Post X-mas re-gifting also involves year-end tax sales / repositioning. Might stabilize about 90 minutes into today’s trade, with queasy action dragging on a bit.

A toast to peace (thinking Ukraine soon now) and freedom (Venezuela next year and then we’ll see about Cuba). So for (Friday), after more wavering we might firm a bit with trepidation's about a bullish year 4 (continuation).. unless you count the (early 2025) panic as starting a count for a new bull market.. ah.

Bottom-line: I hope you all had a fine Christmas respite; or enjoyed the local Chinese restaurants if Jewish (typical with others closed); fun with friends and family... and then the follow-on was a market that really didn't want to be open on Friday; aside from those 'probably' insisting on tax-based moves.

Again most players were away; so it's easy to say the market comes back on Monday, and it may. However, tax sales for losses can be taken up to the last day of the year; we don't have multi-day settlement like the old days. Hence I think most of it is done; but perhaps a bit more residually on Monday and then we'll start to see more realistic buys or sells related to anticipating next year.

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