Sellers jumped on board positive early action once again today, with a mixed close run on higher volume on the NASDAQ and lower on the NYSE.
Officially, the Dow industrials fell 0.1% on NYSE volume of 5.4 billion shares, while the NASDAQ rose 0.3% on 2.0 billion. The leadership profile remains positive, with 540 stocks making new highs versus 83 making new lows.
The short term momentum oscillators remain negative for now, non-confirming the bullish stance of the AlphaKing Trading Indicator for the NASDAQ (while the Russell 2000 AK Trading Indicator remains negative.) We have no new trades at this time.
There is a ferocious battle quietly taking place as the bulls try to squeeze the bears early in the trading day while the bears keep stepping forward to push the rally attempts back, all creating a very nervous yin and yang trading environment that essentially goes no where.
So far neither side has landed the killer blow, but that surely is what we are facing from such prolonged technical gyrations at such massively important levels. The sideways churn is either a base from which the next major rally will be launched, or a major top from which the next down-leg of the bear market will be born, though so far it remains impossible to tell which side is going to land the big win. The close on Friday remains extremely important as to what happens next.
401K investors should be invested in a money market fund.
Kevin Wilde, Chief Trading Strategist AlphaKing.com.
