Yeeeeeech....

You can thank the good people of United Airlines for my ability to get this post done relatively promptly. My brief flight from Seattle to San Francisco has been delayed three hours. So here I sit on the plane, waxing poetic about this insane market.

By the way, does anyone find this image from the login page of TMobile to be strangely suggestive? (Long, uncomfortable pause). No? I guess it's just me.


Here's the NZD/USD - - what I have to say about it is basically the same as what I've got to say in the next paragraph.....


As long as the dollar remains weak, there's going to be yet another reason for stocks to go higher. Looking at the EUR/USD chart, it's clear that we're at an extreme point, but (obviously) it could push to yet another extreme. This chart, in case it's not clear to you, shows the strength of the Euro (and, conversely, the weakness of the dollar), so mentally invert it.


What's interesting about the market is just how swiftly it has pushed higher. Look at the chart below. I've highlighted each of the most recent three "surges", and as you can see, each surge is happening with greater speed. The two lonely down periods here were last summer (oh, how I miss those days....) and - ever so briefly - about eight weeks ago.


The NASDAQ Composite is still within its rising channel, at the tippy-tippy top. Clearly Apple's (AAPL) sensational earnings will push both Apple and the NASDAQ higher first thing in the morning.


The S&P 500 is clearly above its channel. An overshot, or a whole new ball game? Search me.


If you want a truly bullish picture of the market, take a step back and look at the long-term $XMI. This is a chart of an amazing breakout, a perfect pullback, and a subsequent push to new highs. This is exactly what bull markets are made of. Astonishing.


I have suggested Akamai (AKAM) as a short before. It didn't really perform until today.


I like looking for weak stocks on a day like today, because if a stock can't get it up on a day like this, it's in sorry shape. Check out ATI.


Same goes for Colgate, which actually opened higher. Look at the honey of a bearish engulfing pattern on this one.


CRS, mentioned here yesterday, is failing its breakout, and it fell today on strong volume.


Dril Quip (DRQ), mentioned in this blog before as a buy, continues to perform well. Just about anything to do with energy (either classic or alternate) seems to be zooming these days. I can at least take heart that I am in a natural gas partnership.


General Dynamics (GD) looks like a potential short. It busted its trendline a number of weeks back, and it seems to have double topped today, falling when everything else was rising.


I don't have any particular opinion on GOOG, but it only rose one tenth of one percent today - - pretty feeble, wouldn't you say? I think it may be telling. I'd also point out that all the gains from its fantastic earnings report a few days ago have vanished. Everyone who bought into that rally - even at the day's low - is in a losing position now.


I like Southern Copper (PCU) as a short at this price.


Schnitzer Steel (SCHN) - - man, can you imagine being the receptionist there and saying that name all day long? - - continues to look fantastic as a bullish play. Wonderful strength on handsome volume.


Questar also looks good on the long side.


Given today's action, I'm glad the readers voting to take anonymous comments down. You can imagine what much mud slinging would be going on right now.

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OK, I'm starting to enjoy the market again. Four down days in a row. Granted, only two of them were worth anything (today and last Friday), but I'll take what I can get. Red on the screen, and I'm a happy guy.

Today was actually my second-best day ever in percentage terms, and it wasn't even down that dramatically. It's finally becoming clear to the public that the economy is faltering. Bring on some more of that! I guess I'll only regret it when I try (again) to sell my second house here in Palo Alto, The market has become mushy around here, and I gave up selling it a few months ago. I was going to try again in spring, but if things keep going this way, I may wind up as a landlord far longer than I ever intended.

Many months ago I suggested ESRX as a short. It's worked out nicely. It never violated the stop price I suggested, and those owning puts have made out like bandits.


The NASDAQ is looking particularly squishy these days, which is terrific. Take a gander:


Similar action is on the $NDX. You can see a nice progression of lower highs here, and today's downdraft was a monster bearish engulfing pattern.


Also take note of just how quickly the air has come out of the S&P's RSI indicator. It's fallen from nosebleed levels to well under the important 70 line. Let's keep beating the spirit out of these bulls, guys 'n' gals. Shake them and break them.


I loaded up on $XAU puts early today, when it was high. It closed pretty much unchanged. This isn't a clean head and shoulders pattern per se, but it's got the markings of one. I like it.


The Fib Fans on ADSK are charming, to me, and it's got a nice, clean stop. Ummm, keep in mind that tight stops can get ignored by giant gaps up, such as I experienced with Cigna (CI) today. It basically opened at its high and fell the rest of the day. Grumble. But I digress.


I've been holding AGN puts for a while. Nice one.


For those wanting to take advantage of the sky-high REIT market, may I direct your attention to ARE?


ATI looks to have put in a lovely double top.


Capital One (COF), mentioned here on numerous occasions, is behaving like a good boy should.


NOV is a nice play on the OIH drop.


Finally, someone mentioned US Steel (X). I bought puts on this a couple of days back. I like what I see here.


In closing, I just want to say thank-you for the thank-yous. There are a lot of nice notes in the comments section, and believe me, I don't do this blog for the money (averting eyes....) I do it for the love! So I appreciate the nice words.