Checking In With The Indexes

I confess that I wasn’t exactly champing at the bit this weekend to look at charts. The grind since February 11th has been very tough on my zeal for trading and charting, and if this keeps up, I might have to rebrand this blog as the Slope of Dope and focus on cannabis cultivation and distribution (a topic I am wholly unqualified to address).

Having said that, let’s look at a few indexes. First, below, there’s the Dow Composite. I’ll be the first to say I was straight-up stupid to hang on to any shorts (let alone a bunch of them) during the rally I’ve tinted in cyan. But, honestly, the market “should” have stopped at that red circle. instead, it caught its breath and pushed into the green tinted area with a persistence that, honestly, I find shocking. If it pushes above the red line, I’ll consider myself wholly screwed.

0415-COMP

But, frankly, things are really stretched to the upside, and I’m really wondering what all the doe-eyed optimism is about. Take the Dow (please!) It has been, for many months now, in a tremendous multi-thousand point range. Even the most steadfast bull would have to admit that we’re at the top of that range.

0415-INDU

Not all the indexes have been monkey-raped to the breaking point. The S&P 100, for example (symbol $OEX) still sports a clean series of lower highs.

0415-OEX

Perhaps my favorite index right now in terms of toppy-ness is the Russell 2000, the small caps. Unlike other indexes, it is nowhere near its lifetime highs, and there is a staggering amount of overhead supply.

0416-RUT

The big disappointment for me last week was the ES breaching its trendline (circled below in red). Again, this “should” not have happened, but it has, and it might suggest (God forbid) simply a continuation of strength.

0416-es

How did you like this article? Let us know so we can better customize your reading experience.

Comments

Moon Kil Woong 8 years ago Contributor's comment

The beginning of the uptrend was genuine in the fact that it was on wide volume. Since then, it has reverted back to big financials and big mutual funds etc. Clearly one should have expected push ups by big banks to brush up their balance sheet ahead of earnings, but I agree, that has now passed and the upside is not sustainable given the lower earnings growth companies are sporting and inflation starting to show. Besides the Fed, I think no one thinks positively of broad based inflation especially in tepid growth. The Federal Reserve is either lying or needs their economic heads examined.