{"id":5018,"date":"2011-11-10T08:24:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T13:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5018"},"modified":"2011-11-10T08:24:53","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T13:24:53","slug":"before-the-open-nov-10-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5018","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Nov 10)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets got hit hard. Hong Kong and South Korea dropped 5%, Taiwan 3.4% and Australia, Japan and Singapore more than 2%. Europe on the other hand is up across the board. Germany is up 1.7% – it’s the only 1% mover. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap up open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe market is being held hostage to Europe. Simple as that. What happens in Europe with their debt and whether the debt of Greece, Italy and others can be contained is driving the market right now. I’m a technical trader. The technicals work best in an environment absent news and absent big surprises. That’s when the natural imbalance of supply and demand can play out. The current environment obviously isn’t absent news. That means I can continue trading (and assume the increased risk) or stop and wait for things to clear up. I’m picking the one on the middle. I’m still trading, but I have less positions than normal and am trading smaller size and am being content to shoot for singles. These are times when you just try and peck away and make a few bucks and otherwise preserve capital until the situation is better. <\/span>
\nGreece has a new Prime Minister, and Italy will be voting tomorrow on austerity measures. <\/span>
\nHere’s the 30-min SPX chart since the beginning of October. The trend is still up but at a much shallower slope. There should be support between the current level and ~ 1190, so just because the trendline is broken doesn’t automatically mean the market is headed back to its lows. <\/span>
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\nGood news from Europe and yesterday’s losses are quickly recaptured. Bad news means the S&P could quickly lose another 50 points. Oye. This is not ideal. 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