{"id":536,"date":"2009-04-29T06:30:19","date_gmt":"2009-04-29T11:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=536"},"modified":"2009-04-29T06:30:19","modified_gmt":"2009-04-29T11:30:19","slug":"before-the-open-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=536","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day.
\nToday the FOMC announces their \u2018target\u2019 for overnight rates which are already under 1% and sets the discount rate. No change is expected, so as has been the case the last few meetings, it\u2019s their statement which will be read and dissected. I consider this a meaningless event, but as always, CNBC will turn it into a 3-ring circus and analyze every single word they say. For me, it\u2019s usually a day off from trading. Sometimes I can jump on a move in the morning and then wait until about 20 min after the 2:15 announcement to see if we get a trend into the close. Here are some daily charts I\u2019m watching.
\nThe S&P 500: It\u2019s been trading between its upper and middle Bollinger Band since mid March and is now getting squeezed by converging trendlines. A move above 875 may cause a little squeeze. A move below the middle BB is likely to lead to a test of the lower BB.
\n
\nThe Nasdaq 100: Similar story. Trading nicely between the upper and middle BB, and potential resistance sits just overhead from the November high and declining 200-day MA. A move could cause the shorts to cover while failure to move up is likely to result in the lower BB being tested.
\n
\nThe Russell 2000: It\u2019s consolidating between converging trendlines. A breakout tests the January high. Otherwise the lower BB is likely to be tested.
\n
\nThe worst breakouts are news induced. Let\u2019s hope the FOMC is a nonevent and we get a move based on the natural forces of supply and demand (this is actually impossible considering the government\u2019s heavy involvement).
\nUntil resolution comes, I\u2019m sticking with short term trades.
\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a>
\nstocks to watch MarketWatch<\/a><\/a>
\nupgrades\/downgrades<\/a>
\nearnings & economic releases<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday. Happy Fed Day. Today the FOMC announces their \u2018target\u2019 for overnight rates which are already under 1% and sets the discount rate. No change is expected, so as has been the case the last few meetings, it\u2019s their statement which will be read and dissected. I consider this a meaningless event, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}