Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Today's Markets

One writedown can ruin your whole day....Citigroup announced a horrible writedown and the markets tanked.

There are a couple of ways to look at the markets right now. I'm going to use the daily charts as opposed to the 5-minute charts. The 5-minute charts are filled with tons of noise that I don't think is helpful.



On the SPYs, we've either broken down from a triangle consolidation pattern, or we're still in a downward sloping pennant pattern consolidating. Today's volume spike should indicate we've broken down from a consolidation pattern, but we need further price action to be sure one way or the other.



The exact same analysis applies to the Russell 2000 (IWM). Most importantly, we need more information from the charts one way or the other; there are still too many possible interpretations to make a firm conclusion.



The QQQQs are still in a downward sloping pennant pattern.

While I don't usually touch on the Treasury market in the daily warp-up, notice that safe haven buying is clearly continuing as evidence from the upward move in the IEF (7-10 year Treasury) and TLT (20+ Treasury)





The markets are on pins and needles right now; we're literally waiting for the next show to drop. Today's Citi announcement was a big issue because it indicates we're still nowhere near done with hearing about problems in the financial sector. Also remember -- we're just at the beginning of the earnings season. More announcements like this shouldn't be surprising to anyone right now.

I should also note that while I was expecting a move up in the market, I'm having less confidence in that analysis right now. Today's news was very bearish and makes me wonder what kind of news we'll be hearing over the next month or so.