Finally an Upday

S&P500 daily at end of day

End of Day Update:

Stocks bounced impressively and retook the 50dma. The one dig against today’s move is it happened on lower than average volume. But regardless, this is the biggest up-day in weeks and nervous bulls are breathing a sigh of relief.

It seems we are back in bizarro land since this sharp rebound was kicked off by abysmal retail sales. Traders addicted to easy money cheered the prospect of a weak economy and delayed rate hikes. Funny the world we live in where blowout employment tanks the market and pathetic economic news launches us higher.

Yesterday I said we should be wary of a rebound without a high volume capitulation bottom. And that is exactly what we got today. While the market can change the rules on us at any time, every dip over the last year bottomed on the highest volume of the move down. But Tuesday’s plunge was on lower volume than Friday’s leg down. That tells us more owners chose to hold the dip than sell it and we are missing the traditional purge that is a common trait of typical “V” bottoms.

This means 1) the market changed the rules on us, 2) this is a bull trap and it will fail soon, or 3) this is the first bounce in an extended sideways basing pattern. One possibility that the worst is behind us and two that we will retest Tuesday’s lows. While not scientific, 2 to 1 against this rebound sticking says we should be careful. But price is truth and we need to watch how it behaves in coming days. A bull trap can last two or three days before crumbling. But if the market is holding strong by early next week, then this is the real deal. Anything less and look out below.

Jani