{"id":5468,"date":"2012-03-23T07:33:59","date_gmt":"2012-03-23T12:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=5468"},"modified":"2012-03-23T07:33:59","modified_gmt":"2012-03-23T12:33:59","slug":"before-the-open-mar-23-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=5468","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (Mar 23)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning. Happy Friday.<\/span>
\nThe Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed and with a downward slant; China, Hong Kong and Japan lost more than 1%. Europe is currently most down; there are no 1% movers. Futures here in the States point towards a flat to down open.<\/span>
\nThe dollar is down slightly. Oil and copper are up slightly. Gold and silver are flat. <\/span>
\nSince the Russell cleared resistance and joined the other indexes in higher high territory, we’ve gotten three down days. Most of the downward movement has come in the form of opening gap downs, and the intraday selling pressure has equaled the intraday buying pressure. In fact, looking at the closes relative to the opens the last three days reveals a small gain, so whatever caused the gap downs was not able to exert itself during regular trading hours. <\/span>
\nHere’s the 60-min S&P chart going back to late November. The trend remains rock solid, and since tops take weeks or months to form, even if a top were in place, we’d get several more upward thrusts (ergo, plenty of opportunity to get short). But as I’ve said many times, do not use the movement of the indexes as justification to stay in laggard. Just each position in-and-of-itself. Do not fall in the trap of holding a crappy stock just because the indexes remain in an uptrend. <\/span>
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\nIt’s Friday and the near term is in question. Maybe the S&P wants to test 1375, or maybe it’ll undercut 1375 to scare the bulls (I’m not the only one looking at this chart). In either case I’m not in a big hurry to enter new positions right now. 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>
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