{"id":4029,"date":"2011-02-23T08:22:14","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T13:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=4029"},"modified":"2011-02-23T08:22:14","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T13:22:14","slug":"before-the-open-feb-23-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=4029","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Feb 23)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with a bearish slant. Only the Taiwan market moved more than 1% (it dropped 1.7%). Europe is currently mixed. There are no significant upside or downside movers. Futures here in the States point towards a gap up open for the cash market.<\/span>
\nYesterday was either the worst down day or second worst down day in 3 months. It’s really been amazing how strong the market has been. The last time the market fell so hard was the end of Jan when fears out of Egypt caused everyone to sell first and ask questions later. Those losses were recovered in two days. Yesterday’s selling was no doubt caused by the unrest in Libya – partly due to the conflict there and partly due to the prospect of having the oil supply from the country disrupted. Once the selling started, it was pretty much a 1-way ticket down until the closing bell. Was the selling over done? Will the losses be quickly recovered again? Or will the situation be used as an excuse for the market to finally correct? We shall see. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, and when you consider the wild card (the Fed) and have no idea if they’ll continue to support the market, it’s best to stay out of the prediction business and stay in the “position management” business. On the long side I’m content to sit and watch and let things settle out for a few days. On the short side, as I said yesterday, I’d rather buy a reverse ETF than short an individual stock.<\/span>
\nHere’s the SPX 60-min chart. A 50-point move off the high is very doable, and that would take the index to just below 1300. More after the open.<\/span>
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\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings Reports<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\n