Before the Open (Mar 16)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed up across the board. Japan bounced over 5%, and most of the other indexes moved up at least 1%. Europe is currently mixed. Futures here in the States point towards a slightly positive open.

The S&P closed last Thursday at 1295 and yesterday at 1282. So between the biggest earthquake in Japan’s history which has killed perhaps 10,000 people and left millions without food, water, electricity etc and a nuclear crisis which is the world’s worst since Chernobyl, the S&P has dropped a grand total of 13 points. This doesn’t seem like much selling pressure considering Japan is the world’s third largest economy.
Yesterday several internals hit levels they hadn’t hit in several months…
The number of S&P 1500 stocks above their 10-day MA is the lowest since Nov 17.
The number of S&P 1500 stocks above their 20-day MA is the lowest since Aug 31.
Yesterday was the first time since Nov 16 New Lows out-numbered New Highs.
69% of S&P 1500 stocks made a 10-day low yesterday – the highest number since Aug 2.
52% of S&P 1500 stocks made a 20-day low yesterday – the highest number since Aug 24.
I’m still of the opinion the path of least resistance is down, so I’m more inclined to short a bounce than buy a breakout. But the market has been mostly trading off news from Japan which as I stated yesterday is incomplete and often inaccurate.
Be nimble. Be very very nimble.
Here’s the 60-min S&P chart. If it wants to bounce, let’s see how it handles the two trendlines.

headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers