{"id":5041,"date":"2011-11-17T08:39:49","date_gmt":"2011-11-17T13:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5041"},"modified":"2011-11-17T08:39:49","modified_gmt":"2011-11-17T13:39:49","slug":"before-the-open-nov-17-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5041","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Nov 17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with a bearish bias. India and Singapore dropped more than 1%; South Korea rallied more than 1%. Europe is currently down across the board. Austria is down 2%; Belgium, France, Germany, Amsterdam, Norway and London are down more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market. <\/span>
\nHere’s the triangle pattern we’ve been following the last week. The S&P has made lower highs and higher lows, and with the price at its current level, it won’t take much for one of the trendlines to be taken out. My target on a downside break is 1200. It’s a big, fat whole number, and it’s where a trendline drawn parallel to the top of the triangle and through the low of the pattern intersects the right axis. <\/span>
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\nEurope remains the dog that wags the entire market. First Greece. Then Italian bond yields moved up to 7.5%. Then Spanish bond yields moved above 6%. Now the French – they struggled with a bond auction today. Contagion is building. Nobody really cared if Greece went bankrupt or got bailed out, they just wanted to know whatever bad happened didn’t domino throughout Europe. Italy is its own problem – they’re not struggling because of Greece, they would have struggled anyways. But France is a different story. With their borrowing costs going up, everyone’s worst fear (contagion) is coming true. <\/span>
\nPersonally I continue to play it safe. I see no reason to be a hero here. There are too many unknowns and too many things outside my control that have the potential to push the market hard in either direction. The nature of swing trading is the market alternates between “easy” trading periods and “hard” based on the trend and sentiment and mood. Right now it’s hard. We’re not getting follow through, and the we can’t count on the market rescuing us from bad trades. Things can change fast though. 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>
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