Bulls are firmly in control

MARKET SENTIMENT

Headline day in the markets ended up not being very big.  Bernanke’s comments from Jackson Hole were simply parroting previous statements.  No new stimulus, but ready and willing to act if needed.  Markets opened higher, plunged at no announcement of QE3, and then like ever previous fed commentary sell-off in the last couple months, the market bounced back as quickly as it sold-off.

While the news was fairly hum-drum and the price action didn’t move us out of the previous 1400-1410 trading range, the price-action is highly noteworthy.  By many measures, not announcing QE3 today was a big disappointment for some of the most bullish traders.  This was the perfect time for the bears to take the knees out from under this market and send us into the tail-spin they are convinced we are on the verge of.  They had that fast and hard sell-off this morning to kick off an avalanche of selling, but why didn’t we plunge?  The market ran out of sellers and buyers jumped on board at the 1400 level, pushing us right back up to 1410.  So much for the theory that the market is fragile and ready to breakdown.

To me this shows the bears are exceptionally weak and overextended.  Here was the perfect set up for them and instead of raking in huge profits, they got their face ripped off in a short-squeeze.  And to be honest, the pain isn’t over for them.  Next week the rally should continue past last week’s intraday high as the last of the bears are flushed out.

While short-squeezes are powerful, they are also fleeting.  Without real buying following the short-squeeze, the market will drift lower due to a lack of support by other investors.  But the thing I am sensing from CNBC, online discussion forums, and local investor meetups is pros and amateurs alike are sitting on a lot of cash because they are afraid of this market.  These traders are modestly positive on the markets, but reluctant to buy because they fear the headlines.  As a contrarian, this shows me there is a HUGE war chest of cash ready to chase this market higher if it hits news highs.   Fear of a pullback will be replaced by fear of being left behind.

MARKET BEHAVIOR

The market continues trading in the 1400-1410 range, but volatility has picked up a bit with intra-day ranges hitting 1% over 6 of the last 12 trading days.  While 1% is still fairly modest as compared to the last several years, it does show a livelier debate brewing between bulls and bears at this key psychological 1400 level.  Looking at the price action, it the bulls have responded to everything the bears can throw at them.  The news continues to be negative and we are lacking a positive catalyst worthy of driving the market to multi-year highs, but the market is forward-looking and it sees something most don’t.

There is a saying that the market is better at predicting the news than the news is at predicting the market.  And this is the market we find ourselves in.  The market is leading bullish news out of Europe and US Economy.  By the time the news finally hits the wires, the market already made its move and it will be too late for cautious stragglers to profit off of the news.  And that could actually be the top of this rally as the market heads lower in a sell-the-news correction.

TRADING OPPORTUNITIES

Today’s upside reversal from disappointing lack of action from the Fed is highly bullish.  It shows bears are weak and bulls are strong.  Stick with the market and don’t let the heights scare you.  We’re going to breakout of this small 1400-14100 consolidation one way or the other and so far the best indication is for an upside breakout.  In the markets, the best trade is most often the hardest trade.  I could be wrong and we could see the market sell-off, but that is what sell rules are for.  Buy when other people are fearful and sell when others are greedy. The market might not be fearful they way it would at a market bottom, but there is a large amount of reluctance setting up the same trading opportunity.

INDIVIDUAL STOCKS

Most everything is having a good day as the broad market is lifting all stocks.  TFM is following on to yesterday’s 50dma support.  This is a hugely volatile move over the last few days, so take that into account if anyone is adventurous enough to grab this bull by the horns.  FB continues making new lows, down 5% today.  So much for the next great thing.  In the markets, most often if you are excited to buy something, it isn’t going to work out as expected because the simple truth is most traders think alike.  If you are excited, then everyone else is excited, meaning there are few new buyers left to push prices higher.  The hard trade is usually the right trade and the easy trade is usually the wrong trade.

Stay safe