Engulfed

What is with this crazy market? Don't get me wrong; a triple-digit down day on the Dow is terrific. But this market is heading for the nut house.

Over the past trading week, there have been two instances of big bearish engulfing patterns on the $NDX. Today's was a whopper. Having a superstar like EBAY up in the double digits at the open and yet have a wipe-out like this is really encouraging.


The $SPX bounced off that resistance line beautifully. The market still has no direction, though. It's neither bullish nor bearish. Just schizo.


The rest are straight-up short ideas. AMX:


AutoZone (AZO), still in the stratosphere:


Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), approaching resistance:


Black and Decker (BDK):


Goldman Sachs (GS), finally getting a reversal:


LLL:


NutriSystem (NTRI), with its cup and handle pattern failing:


RTI:


Sears Holding (SHLD), also weakening:


Now for your occasional clip of the day! The world's worst weatherman. Brace yourselves.

Ultra Chicken

I've been wrong enough to know that I'm not going to start cheering on a bear market. The market was down today. I'm glad. Maybe it'll be down a lot more this week. Which will make me happier still. But until we have a no-doubt-about-it rupture in the uptrend, I'm keeping my furry mouth shut.

The $VIX may have formed a "V" bottom with recent activity, which would obviously be good for both put holders (me) and bears (me again).


I've mentioned AMLN a bunch recently, and it continues to behave like a good little stock (on the short side).


I take pride in being such a pure technician that I know only the ticker symbol - - I don't know the company's name, and I certainly don't know what it does. The symbol is AXR. I shorted it Friday. And today it lost double-digits of points. Nice.


I got burned a couple of weeks back buying puts on superstock AutoZone (AZO). I'm ready for more punishment.


Cigna is a much less volatile stock, but I see a double top here and a stairstep down these Fibonacci levels forthcoming.


Shoe god Nike is another security on which I own puts. It took a nice little stumble today, but I have much bigger ambitions on this one.


I haven't touched NutriSystem in ages, but I'm ready to go back into the water. There's a small head and shoulders pattern here, and this is the kind of fad stock that can succumb to gravity.


RAI is a good short in the world of metals.


...as is RTI......


Sears Holding (SHLD) is another item I've avoided, only because it has the makings of such a sensational cup with handle pattern. But this pattern is starting to look shaky, so I'm OK putting some risk capital into some puts on this one.


Lastly, a bit from one of my favorite cartoons - Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This one is only a little offensive, so you are probably safe clicking the Play button, no matter how far away you live from the coasts of this great nation.

Ode to Steve Jobs

All the world was abuzz today about the iPhone. This is one gorgeous, sexy, amazing-looking product. Although I've used a PC for years, I bought my first Macintosh early in 1984, and I worked at Apple for a few years. Steve Jobs has been my hero since I was about 14 years old, and the adventures he has had in his business life make Odysseus look like a bore.

Steve Jobs has more style in his pinkie than Bill Gates has in his whole body. And even though the Google founders could buy and sell Steve Jobs many times over, I doubt there's anyone in the country that would opt for lunch with the Google guys over Steve Jobs. He's amazing. As is the press coverage....the top story on CNN!


As well as Fox.....


So it's not surprise that Apple exploded higher today....on volume of over 100 million shares! It wasn't that many years ago that the entire stock market traded 100 million shares. Now just one stock can do it. Just look at this graph!


This is a very late posting, so I'm going to have to tear through it. Boeing (BA) still looks like it's changing trends.


COF, mentioned many times in this space, is moving achingly slowly, but at least it's moving down.


Express Scripts (ESRX), a favorite here, looks terrific. Lower lows and lower highs are clearly intact.


CSX still looks good on the short side.


And FTO is looking like it has a real chance at completing its head and shoulders pattern.


HES is moving nicely lower with all the oil stocks (yep, I got blown out of those OIH calls first thing this morning).


And Hilton (HLT) is obeying the "trendline changing from support to resistance" phenomenon.


Oh, and then there's RIMM. I set my stop too tight on this. It got killed today - obviously because of Apple. I mean, the Blackberry is the most boring piece of crap on the planet compared to the sexy iPhone. Who wants one of those ugly Blackberries now? That's so 2002.


RTI continues to behave as any bearish pick should.


...as does SIE...


...and TSO...


It's late, so I'd better publish this. I hopefully will have more time tomorrow for some general market analysis. Thanks for stopping by!

Buy Buy!

Two days into 2007, and each of them an up day on the Dow. The bulls are still having their fun. Granted, both days combined don't even equal 20 points. But the bulls are still lovestruck.


OK, that probably woke you up. I hate to be punitive, but no one commented on my gallery of Worst Album Covers yesterday, so I wanted to supplement them.......from the pious.....


...to the romantic....


...to the deepest male emotions.....


....to Ken.....by request. I imagine this is simple a blank vinyl disc.


ABT looks attractive as a buy. This market is really overpriced, I think, but this is still a handsome chart.


HAL, on the other hand, is more symbolic of what's happening. Broken trendlines, weakening stocks, all masked by a strong megacap market


I'm starting to lose faith in GOOG (and RIMM) as shorts. Today was a very strong day on both counts. I've marked by stop-loss price on GOOG here.


DST is sort of fascinating in how it shows trendlines "changing coats" from support to resistance. This kind of thing happens all the time.


BLUD, which I've mentioned many times before as a long, continues to be fantastic. Just look at this strength.


BAC, Bank of America, seems a possible attractive short as it seems to be changing direction here.


QID, the double-inverse NASDAQ ETF, is fascinating in the sense that volume is exploding and the price is finally turning around. Hopefully this is the shape of things to come.


OXY is a good representative of the weakening oil stocks.


Whereas the broad OIH continues to falter. I've been bearish on oil for a few weeks now.


HYDL, mentioned here as a short before, is also enjoying a downdraft.


Although I haven't mentioned HP (the symbol, not the company) in a while, this is a gorgeous example of Fibonacci retracements in action. Magical!


Finally, RTI looks like it may have put in a double top.


See you Friday afternoon......it'll probably be a late posting. It might not even happen until the weekend. But I'll get it done!