{"id":4918,"date":"2011-10-05T07:30:33","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T12:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=4918"},"modified":"2011-10-05T07:30:33","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T12:30:33","slug":"before-the-open-oct-5-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=4918","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Oct 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed; there were noticeable movers in both directions. Australia and Malaysia gained more than 1%. South Korea dropped 2.3% and Hong Kong dropped 3.4%. Europe is up across the board. Most of the indexes are up at least 1.5%, and about half are up 2% or more. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market. <\/span>
\nThe market was near its lows yesterday afternoon when it suddenly went vertical the last 45 minutes of the day. News came out of Europe that in my opinion wasn’t that inspiring, but enough traders liked it to quickly push prices up, and once the ball got rolling, the momentum wasn’t going to stop until the closing bell. <\/span>
\nAlthough such a move may or may not be what you’d like to see, you can’t be surprised. We are in a high risk environment. Four times in the last two months the S&P has rallied at least 75 points after having dropped by that amount or more. Numerous times we’ve gotten sudden reversals, often in the form of a gap. This is why I’ve been preaching to be ahead of the curve taking profits as opposed to using trailing stops because the reversals have come without warning. But using loose trailing stops is fine as long as you know these bounces will occur and you’re ok with them. Pick a trading style and stick with it. I do not under any circumstance suggest constantly changing your stripes. It’s much better to be consistent with your methods.<\/span>
\nIn my eyes the trend remains solidly down…100-point SPX rallies within the trend are commonplace and we know the biggest up days occur within downtrends. I see no reason to change my bias, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stay short if the S&P wants to rally to the top of its range. My preference is to exit and re-enter rather than hold and hope little damage is done to my account. <\/span>
\nMaybe the market rallies to the top of its range; maybe yesterday’s announcement was misread and yesterday’s gains will be quickly given back. I’m in wait-and-see mode. More after the open.<\/span>
\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\ntoday’s upgrades\/downgrades<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Earnings<\/a><\/span>
\nthis week’s Economic Numbers<\/a><\/span>
\n