Love So Deep, Kills You In Your Sleep

I'm no better. I just know I'm not any better of a person than any of the bulls that frequent this board.

When the market is roaring higher........when bears like me are getting slaughtered .........it's only natural that you gloat. You announce how the market is just going to keep going up forever. You wish for the destruction of all the bears. And you offer up reasons why It's Different This Time and there will never be a down market in your lifetime.

So - as the kids say, good on you, because I'm no better than that. The market is a battlefield. Wiser souls - of which many claim to be, but hardly any of them are - are truly neutral, and they position themselves to try to take advantage of the ebb and flow. Mere mortals, like your humble narrator, tend to be more dogmatic. History - and human nature - tend to make the vast majority of them bulls. And a vanishingly small number are bears. So - join hands around the campfire, and let's sing!

I hate you. You hate me. We're a trading family. With a big fat drop, and a knife from me to you. This one day, you get the screw.

So allow me to remind everyone of the disposition just four trading sessions ago. Last Friday, June 1st. Hardly a blip in time. The Dow had made another lifetime closing high. Let's review some of the comments offered up:

Permabull NewEquity wrote: I just bought 100 DIA calls mid-day for the ride back up through all time highs. No resistance at all and we should break 14k Dow in the next 3 weeks according to my tech analysis guy.

John (B) predicted, regarding the S&P 500, whose closing price today was 1490.72: "Putting these numbers in my model, the 500 fair value today is 2,300...and based on earnings for next year, fair value would be about 2,800."

And, lastly, Beanie11111 declared the bottom for a number of stocks: "...AKAM has bottomed...SBUX has bottomed.....WFMI has bottomed." As a follow-up, in the mere four days since that post, those stocks have declined 3.2%, 5.9%, and 6.5%, respectively. So I guess some people have different understanding of bottoms than others.

Suffice it to say, the past three days have been very good for me. Indeed, I had trouble deciding what charts to show, because they are all gorgeous. Every single one - every one - of my dozens of positions pushed way higher today. I even made some very profitable intraday option trades - both long and short! - with the Russell 2000.

The Dow fell 1.48% today. And, after the regular market closed, the ETFs on the indexes just kept falling. The DIA wound up down 1.96%.

I actually would not be surprised to see a very short, very sharp drop first thing in the morning followed by a rip-roaring push up. Looking at this channel, it seems to me the selling is a touch overdone (on the very short term) at this point. You hear me, fellers? I'm not saying we're going to enjoy another 4th day plunge. Nice as it would be.


Zooming in closer, you can see what I mean. Now, of course, all trendlines are eventually broken. And if the one shown here is decisively snapped, it could be a new ball game. But the past 11 months have made me paranoid, and although the last 3 days have been sensible, I still don't trust this market or its participants.


Akamai (AKAM) hasn't plunged as fast as I hoped, but it's doing OK. It's still a very nice pattern, and I've got some nice green on this one.


CSX is way the hell above its trendline, and it is sporting a cute little head and shoulders pattern to boot.


CVX would definitely pop up if the market strengthened, but that would just give me another opportunity to add to my bearish position.


I closed my Deere (DE) puts today at a nice profit. Not because I think the stock is going to be strong. But only because I'd like to re-enter them at a better price, assuming the market "recovers" some in the very short-term.


The Asian markets are having a touch of reality. My EWM (Malaysian market) short is doing nicely. I daresay the Asian markets will kind of freak out during their Friday session, which might make our Friday session interesting as well. But, if forced to bet, I'd say we'll probably close higher, Asian freakout and end-of-week jitters notwithstanding.


InfoSys (INFY) finally cracked its neckline, although it still seems to behave stronger than I'd like to see. Would you plunge, already?


JC Penney (JCP) - on which I bought puts yesterday - had a nice fall due to weak retail sales. Of course, a true break of this neckline - - - the pattern is only just forming now - - - would make these puts fantastically profitable.


Merrill Lynch (MER), along with my other investment bank shorts, soured (for the bulls) today.


Oh, a couple of final comments to two users before the video. TomTheTrader, please stop posting your URL. I consider that an ad, and I'm going to be more consistent about nuking comments that are ads in any way. And Gary - for goodness sake, we get it. COT, COT, COT. Message received and understood. Lordy. Oh, and as for you readers that only show up on big down days like this......shame on thee!

Anyway........

How Now, Mao Dow?

There was a time, not long ago (like, ummm, early last week) that I would have felt cheated and flustered by the Chinese market's tumble not having a bearish effect in the U.S. But at this point, I am so utterly distrustful (and numbed) by this market that I'm not at all surprised.

The Shanghai index fell the equivalent of over 1,100 Dow points last night, and our market - of course - went up. I truly believe - and I am seriously not exaggerating - that a nuclear bomb on a major city would not cause a major disruption in this bull market. I swear to God, this market is insane, and even the death of a million people would not stop it. It has lost its mind.

So. Having said that, let's look at a few charts.

Crude oil is pushing higher. Looking at the continuous futures chart, it seems to have plenty of room on the upside.


The strength in crude is obviously good for oil service stocks. The OIH is at a new lifetime high and had a very strong day today.


I mentioned last month how bullish energy looked, and stocks like Apache (APA) have been stars.


Conversely, companies which suffer due to high fuel costs got hurt today. My short recommendation of American Airlines (AMR) is doing well.


One I don't think I've mentioned in the past on the short side is BEA Systems (BEAS).


I have, however, mentioned Bunge (BG) a few times, and this one is shaping up nicely.


Capital One (COF) is sort of stuck right now. I own puts on it, and they haven't done a thing, but I am still hopeful about this position.


Federal Realty Trust (FRT - "don't giggle at our ticker, please") looks like a clean bearish trade to me as well.


I don't mention Google (GOOG) much, but this stock looks like a strong buy (yep, buy). This chart is strong, and the volume has been inching higher. Obviously this company is an ungodly powerhouse and is doing well at the expense of poor Yahoo, which seems to be dying an agonizing death.


I bought puts on Honeywell (HON) today. Maybe a lil' double top here.


The investment banks seem to be edging south, in spite of the market's continued strength. Merrill Lynch (MER) in particular looks good for a short play.

Immune

I'm not afraid.

I used to be. I really did. It's hard not to be fearful when a market has completely lost its mind. It's hard not to be afraid when tens of millions of Chinese investors - not a one of which has any clue what he's doing - are running around predicting their market will reach 8,000 now that it's reached 4,000. And it's hard not to be afraid when it seems the whole world has discovered how to print trillions of dollars (without inflation) that they want to dedicate solely to buying up companies.

But I'm not afraid.

A day like today is why. Because the Dow can reach yet another all-time high, and my portfolio.......which is 100%, All-American, red-blooded shorts and puts......goes up handsomely. And I can grab my XXL codpiece, stare the market right in the eye, and shout an obscenity which rhymes with "Truck Blue!".

Because the fact is, folks, if I can make money in a market like this, God help you bulls when it actually goes down. Because your days are numbered.

I find the Chinese prediction of 8,000 on the Shanghai index particularly amusing. I know that 8 is considered a lucky number in China. So - naturally - there's no reason the market won't zoom to 8,000, is there? Added to which, I read that many investors there decide that a share of stock is a good buy if it costs less than a portion of pork meat.

Idiots.

I've decided if my loyal readers and I decide to seek haven in a safe zone, we shall flee to the district of Yaroslavl Oblast in Russia. Their flag, my hand to God, looks like this:


A bear carrying an axe. We, my friends, have found our homeland.

Speaking of homes, the widely-reported slump in housing has not hit my beloved Palo Alto. On the contrary, prices have never been higher. Just a few doors down from my house is the following charmer. It features no landscaping. 950 square feet of living spaces. And sixty year old plumbing. It can be yours for $2 million. (Actually, I'm joking about that - - because it was snapped up a few days after they put a sign out in front, and it can, in fact, not be yours at this time).


The Dow Jones 30 - which is far and away where all the strength is these days - tried very hard to push its way up to the 13,500 mark. After ascending nearly 150 points, it went completely flaccid, and it wound up 37, creating this lovely shooting star.


Here's an update on my positions (newbies - click any image for a bigger version). Bold items are puts. Others are shorts. Not a long in the group (although I will mention that my long suggestion of ONT continues to explode higher).


My short in Akamai (AKAM) did great today, and what is more important, it is set up for a spectacular fall from here.


Acuity Brands (AYI) also has a hell of a lot of open air to collapse.


AutoZone (AZO) finally - FINALLY! - took a tumble. Much more to come, I think.


My puts in Bear Stearns also performed nicely.


Merrill Lynch is starting to deteriorate, now that it has made a base camp for itself at this key Fibonacci retracement level.


Lastly, the NASDAQ QQQQs slumped badly, just as my beloved Russell 2000 did.


So in spite of calming inflation news (ummm, fellers, how much good is a .25% interest cut going to do you when the economy is irrevocably crumbling?) it was a terrific day. Let's have more of the same.

I'm not afraid!

Kick the Clay that Holds the Teeth In

As a true sign of the times, here's an article about a 16 year old girl that is confident her business will make her a billionaire not just in her lifetime, but by the time she's 25. OK, sister, good luck with that.

I've mentioned the correlation between the NZD/USD and U.S. stocks, and I've got a feeling some are skeptical. Here's a graph of these two apparently unrelated financial instruments. You can see the correlation yourself. In fact, it gave a pretty good heads-up about the 2/27 plunge two weeks in advance.


Regular readers of this blog know that the head and shoulders is a favorite bearish pattern of mine. The way it is supposed to work is well illustrated by MRVL, shown below. The difference between the neckline and the top of the head was about $10, which traditionally is the target price for the fall. MRVL nailed its target to the penny.


My hope is that my AMR short - which has been doing great, thanks for asking - will follow suit as well. There's quite a way to go before the target is reached.


I don't have a position in Capital One Financial (COF) anymore, but I've got to say, this is one monstrously large looking topping pattern.


Merrill Lynch (MER), on which I own puts, seems to be turning the corner. RSI and the slow stochastic are in a downturn, and the retracement seems to have played itself out.


Much can said of US Steel (X) as well.


I think today might be the last "the Dow has to go up because it just keeps going up" day for a bit. My sense is that we'll see a lower Dow on Monday. See you then.

Candlesticks Galore

I think it's time to back off for a while.

This may seem to be a sudden change compared to yesterday's post. But I see a lot of reasons why, in the short term, it might be best to take profits off the table and wait it out a bit. I certainly did that today. I've got a lot back into good ol' cash. Specifically, what concerns me for bears is:

• The relatively high $VIX
  
• The abundance of very clear hammer patterns today
  
• The abundance of 'trendline touches' today (intraday lows touching suppporting lines)
  
• The lack of a new catalyst.......the Yen carry forward helped us a couple of weeks ago, and the sub-prime debacle helped us recently......but we need a new disaster du jour, and a pretty gigantic one that that.

Earlier in the day, when the Dow was down another 150 points (actually piercing below 12,000 for a while), a reader sent me this picture (which I appreciate!):


Strictly speaking, they're bison. But it's a nice thought.

In many instances, the kinds of clobbering I've been expecting have exhausted themselves, at least in some industries. Take housing, for instance. I first mentioned Meritage Homes (symbol MTH) way back on January 23, 2006 when the stock was at $58. It lost nearly half its value since that time, so clearly the head and shoulders pattern behaved as expected. But as you can see in the highlighted area near the bottom, there's a bunch of support here, and I think stocks like this have played themselves out to the downside.


That isn't to say that the drop from 12,700 to 12,000 consitutes the Giant Bear Market I've been talking about. Not at all. I'm just saying that, barring an important new catalyst, I can see the bulls taking the reigns again for a bit.

Take today's $INDU, for instance. Support at 12,000 was pierced, but there's a ton of buying interest at that level, so the bears were pushed away, and we had an intraday move of over 200 points.


The MidCap 400 ($MID) is an even clearer example. Look how perfectly it bounced off that Fib retracement level.


The $NDX also held firm. So the failure of the bears to really maul the market indicates to me that the baton was handed back to the bulls in the middle of the trading day today.


$RUT (the Russell 2000) likewise showed good Fibonacci obedience.


The S&P 500 shows the pickle that the market is in right now. It's just stuck on that major trendline. A state of equilibrium in the market stinks for traders......but we may soon find ourselves in a trading range based on this tug-of-war.


The Transports also supports the short-term strength theory. A perfect bounce off the supporting trendline.


I have no new ideas for you today. Sitting on your cash might be wise. Continental is doing pretty good on the short side; I've highlighted a target.


MER touched its trendline perfectly.


Microsoft - which I don't really trade, but it's important to follow - also touched the trendline......to the penny. Although this trendline was broken, I made an exception since it seems to be important to monitoring the stock.


I also got out of SHLD today, at a profit. Same reason - - trendline bounce.


So Monday's post had me talking about how boring the market was. And Tuesday was fireworks. Now we're back to boring. I really think, unless something totally shocking happens, we'll be marking time as the $VIX winds its way back down to the lower double digits. In the meantime, enjoy Flunky the Clown from the late 80s....

Well Put

Good day on the market today, bears. This time, after a look at a couple of indexes, I'm going to show just stocks on which I think puts might be a lucrative position. They have a number of properties in common - - the stocks are high priced (meaning the options can get really juicy). They have options with decent volume. And they seem to be running out of steam.

The stock market finally - FINALLY! - made its mind up on direction today, and it was down. As you can clearly see from the horizontal line of support, the moment it pushed through, it was party time.


Looking at the past several months, you can very clearly see that early in this bull phase the price action and RSI were lined up (green lines) and yet, for a couple of months or more, RSI and price action have been absolutely divergent (red lines).


Going back to an even wider time range, you can see how lofty the S&P 500 is right now. Which is why my puts went up so fast today.


But let's not get too excited yet (lest I get another cowardly voicemail from an Australian hermaphrodite). There have been many times that the market has taken a quick, exciting drop. I've marked each of them here with red lines. And each time, it shakes it off and simply moves on to new lifetime highs. So I'm willing to concede this may be fake-out number twenty thousand and six.


The rest of today's entry is just stock charts, pure and simple - - again, with the focus being on puts. I've mentioned many of these before, and own puts on most or all of them. Goldman Sachs (GS):


Cabot (COG):


Capital One (COF):


Bear Stearns (BSC):


AutoZone (AZO):


Merrill Lynch (MER):


MicroStrategy (MSTR):


Research in Motion (RIMM):


Textron (TXT):


Exxon Mobil (XOM):


Have a good weekend. To most of you, at least.