{"id":5154,"date":"2011-12-20T08:37:09","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T13:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5154"},"modified":"2011-12-20T08:37:09","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T13:37:09","slug":"before-the-open-dec-20-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5154","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. India dropped 1.3%. Otherwise there were no 1% movers. Europe is currently mostly up. Germany, Norway and Amsterdam are up more than 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a relatively big gap up for the cash market. <\/span>
\nThe dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold and silver are up.<\/span>
\nBut let’s not get overly excited. This will be the forth straight day the market is gapping up. The first three couldn’t hold their gains. On the flip side yesterday had a capitulation feel. There were several times I found myself saying: “Are you kidding! The S&P can’t even bounce a measly 3 points before sellers re-assert themselves.” This is when longs throw all caution to the wind and dump positions regardless of price…this is how bottoms are formed. I’m not predicting this or saying you should blindly buy the open. I am however saying the odds are starting to lean towards a bounce rather than further selling pressure. And remember, the biggest up days occur within downtrends. <\/span>
\nBacking up, looking at the bigger picture, until the S&P can get above the red line in the following chart and establish itself, we need to have a bearish bias. A top formed the first half of this year, and since then almost all the price action has taken place below the previous support level. The ups and downs may not be fun to deal with, but this is textbook charting 101…a consolidation (or distribution) pattern is forming within a newly formed downtrend. More after the open.<\/span>
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\nheadlines at Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/span>
\nheadlines at MarketWatch<\/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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