Before the Open (Aug 25)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down – there were several 1% losers. Europe is currently down across the board – losses are relatively small. Futures here in the States point toward a small gap down open for the cash market. This comes off two very bearish days.
Judging the market based on the number of stocks trading above several moving averages tells us the market is the weakest it’s been since mid July. That’s obvious looking at the charts…the numbers support the claim, so I don’t see a positive divergence forming.
Some indicators are oversold. Some need another couple days of selling pressure to finish cycling them down to their lows. But two, which are both related, have barely budged. Looking at the VIX and put/call, you’d never know the market has fallen 8 of its last 11 days and the S&P has lost about 80 points over that span. I guess there isn’t much fear out there.
Here’s the daily S&P. It closed below my first support level at 1060. Next up is 1040.

There is nothing positive going on right now. You name it, it’s negative…news, the wrong groups leading and lagging, small caps lagging, the US dollar, volume on down days being stronger than volume on up days etc. The only thing the bulls can wait for is a complete washout. Otherwise they’re just guessing a bottom. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers