mkt today

About Shark Watch


Monday, August 25 - 4:20 PM

Afternoon Comments

Just about the only positive thing we can say about the market today was that volume was incredibly light once again, but outside of that, the action was downright dismal. Only the S&P 500 was able to escape with a loss of less than 2%, breadth was right at 7:2 to the negative, and each of the major S&P sectors fell sharply, with the financials accelerating their losses into the close. Meanwhile, the technical conditions in the major indices continue to look precarious. Each has now been turned back from overhead resistance, and all three are in danger of putting in a fresh lower low after hitting a short-term top two weeks ago.

At this point, there are still some opportunities here and there, but the biggest thing we need to be focusing on is capital protection and making sure we don’t try to start forcing trades in this environment. Of course, that won’t stop the parade of those who insist that we’ve just been presented with yet another opportunity to buy stocks that are supposedly “on sale”, but all we need to do is take a look at our screens and the technicals to tell us that we need to be defensive. We don’t need to be putting our capital to work, hoping to catch the bottom. One will eventually come, but the key is to make sure we have enough dry power to profit when it does.

Have a great evening and we will see you tomorrow.