{"id":5185,"date":"2011-12-29T08:33:03","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T13:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5185"},"modified":"2011-12-29T08:33:03","modified_gmt":"2011-12-29T13:33:03","slug":"before-the-open-dec-29-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5185","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Dec 29)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Thursday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. India (down 1.2%) and Indonesia (up 1%) were the only 1% movers. Europe is currently mostly up, but there are no big winners. Futures here in the States point towards a positive open for the cash market.
\n<\/span>
\nThe dollar is up slightly. So is oil and copper. Gold and silver are down.<\/span>
\nForget a year-end rally. The market is simply doing what it’s been doing all year – trade range bound with little momentum in either direction. All the year bulls and bears have taken turns pushing prices in their favor, but neither group has been able to sustain a move. This has resulted in a difficult swing trading environment. We have not been able to enter and then sit back and let the charts play out for a couple months. We’ve had to be ahead of the curve taking profits and content to shoot for singles and doubles instead of homeruns. To make money, you must be flexible. You can’t force your system or style on a market. Instead you have to see what the market is offering and make slight adjustments to your style. <\/span>
\nI think things stay mostly the same in early 2012 but then a trending move will begin. We’ll see. Let’s hope. Up or down I don’t care, but it’d be nice if Europe wasn’t in the headlines every day so we could get some consistency. <\/span>
\nMy overall bias is to the downside. I am not willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the bulls. They’ll have to earn it. This doesn’t mean I won’t consider long trades. It just means long trades will be taken with the intention of taking profits sooner rather than later. More after the open.<\/span>
\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>
\n