Can I Buy an Emotion?

Wow. This market's a snoozer right now.

I know, I know, it's been up. But it's still a bore. Not even two weeks ago, the entire thing was collapsing. Now we're back to the markets just inching around, not really knowing what to do with themselves.

Speaking of boredom, here's my pointless social observation of the day. I eat out a fair bit. I eat a lot of Chinese food in particular - - most of it quite good, since I live in the SF Bay Area. I'd guess I've probably eaten at Chinese restaurants maybe 700 times or more.

I therefore have a pretty good eye about what to expect. Among the stranger phenomenon......which inexplicably bugs me........is the Person Reading At the Table.

Now, if some poor soul is by himself, by all means, read! I'd hate to see a person alone just staring into space. But when you're with a companion.....and typically, it seems to be a wife.....to whip out the newspaper and read it while you await your food is just plain rude.

And it's not like these couples are even exchanging opinions about what they are reading. Only one person is reading, and both of them are staying dead silent. The ignored one - the wife, typically - is just staring into space, probably wondering how she wound up with this total dork. The inclusion of other family members seems to diminish this desire not a whit. Weird.


Oh, yeah. This is supposed to be about technical analysis. Well, my blog, my space, right? But your wish is my command.....

There is formidable resistance around the levels we're at right now. The bad news for us bears is that, should this resistance be broken, it makes an easy argument for the Dow to blast about 400 points higher. I've highlighted the "resistance zone" as it stands now on the S&P 500.


A longer-term view - this one a minute graph of the Dow over the past couple of months - shows there's plenty of upside on the Dow if its only substantial barrier is the underside of that giant broken trendline. Now that would be a real shame. I imagine the bulls have already long forgotten what happened on February 27th. Another few hundred points would make them giddy again. And we all know how nauseating that can be.


The Russell 2000 shows very substantial resistance about the $796 zone, which is where two Fib retracement lines lay in the the same vicinity. A $RUT above $800 would depress poor old Tim mightily.


Just a short ideas to ponder today. CRS on the short side.


MCD also on the short side, with puts being attractive for you option players.


NBL, with a nice RSI signal and a potential double top, another short idea.


PICO, mentioned here a couple of times already, is having a nice run up. (Happily, this was one of my rare bullish suggestions).


I'm more animated and interesting where there's dynamism in the market. Particularly on the downside. Try me again tomorrow. The market muse may have smiled upon me by then. In the meantime, I'd like you to enjoy the adventures of.....Stedman!