{"id":4520,"date":"2011-06-24T07:26:57","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T12:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=4520"},"modified":"2011-06-24T07:26:57","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T12:26:57","slug":"before-the-open-jun-24-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=4520","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Jun 24)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mostly up. China and India rallied more than 2%; Hong Kong and South Korea gained more than 1%. Europe is currently mostly up; there are no 1% movers. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market. <\/span>
\nThe dollar is up slightly. Gold, silver and oil are down.<\/span>
\nThe charts were looking pretty nasty at yesterday’s open, but thanks to Greece agreeing to a 5-year austerity plan, by the close, they weren’t looking so bad. The indexes are still a mess (lots of up and down movement, lots of gaps, not net change over the last couple weeks), but a handful of individual stocks look pretty good (I’ll post some on the message board) – good enough to play to the long side. <\/span>
\nThe question is: was yesterday’s late-day rally just an overdone knee-jerk reaction to the Greek news that will get sold into because the market had already priced it in, or was it legit and something the market could build on? <\/span>
\nInstead of guessing, I let the charts guide me. To me, trading is a big game of follow the leader, and I’m not the leader. I let others make the first move; then I jump in (usually a little late, but when the odds are more favorable). Right now I see no reason to be aggressive in either direction. The intermediate term trend is still down, and the short term trend is neutral. I have a few good longs and shorts to play which sounds good but actually hints at the lack of near term direction. When the trend is obvious, when the side of the market we should be playing is obvious, I have many set ups to play on one side and none on the other. Such isn’t the case right now. Given it’s a Friday, I’m not in any big hurry. <\/span>
\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nyesterday’s sector performance<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\n