Friday, February 11, 2011

Upward

Aside from the bit of flat action we had on Wednesday, the market traded straight up once again. The S&P500 had had two minor red days in the last two weeks, but we continue to see no selling and little consolidation.

Egypt was in the headlines all week, but it apparently doesn't matter what the news is because market players bought it all. Today, the resignation of Mubarak was another reason to buy, even though we didn't have any losses to recover from.

Breadth improved quite nicely from a poor start this morning, and we ended with about 4050 gainers to 1580 decliners. Banks jumped after some favorable comments from Goldman Sachs while gold and oil lagged. Plenty of extended stocks became even more extended, and the big-cap momentum favorites stayed particularly hot.

This market continues to illustrate the old adage that the "trend is your friend." Apparently the market has never heard that it's possible to have "too much of a good thing." This is a great market for buy and hold investors who are unworried and unconcerned, but the lack of any downside is driving my traders crazy. Too quote another old adage, "Variety is the spice of life." And that is what we are lacking in this market.

It is hard to believe that this sort of action can continue much longer, but that is what many folks were saying a month ago. This market has been an absolute nightmare for anyone who has tried to call a top. Unfortunately, the longer this continues, the more people will be tempted to do so. Someone will finally be right one of these days, but most will be so far underwater by then that it won't matter.

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