Friday, March 7, 2008

The Market: Where Do We Go From Here? Which is the Way That's Clear? II

We asked that question on Feb. 26:
(click the link for the chart)
Just a quick note, we're 200 points below the Feb. 1 close of 12,743.19. I point this out because we've had a a perfect series of lower highs going back to October. HOWEVER, a close above the Feb. 1 close does not, by itself, change the downtrend.
Would you like maple or blueberry with that waffle?

Here's Def Leppard's cover of Rock On.
(w/David Essex)

Here's what the DJIA closed at each day since:

Feb. 26...12,684.92
Feb. 27...12,694.28
Feb. 28...12,582.18
Feb. 29...12,266.39
Mar. 3....12,258.90
Mar. 4....12,213.80
Mar. 5....12,254.99
Mar. 6....12,040.39
Mar. 7....11,893.69

No big down days, no capitulation. On the 27th, the day after we put up the original post we got to within 50 points of the last high in the series and then lost 801 points in the next seven days.
That is what a bear market looks like. Grind you up and spit you out. It can figure out how to extract the maximum pain. Little tricks like noticing a series of lower highs on a chart can help but every time you think you found the key, they go and change the lock.
You might want to take a look at some of our other posts on bear markets:

A Gilt-Edged Year for the Stock Market
How To Think About The Markets, And Your World
Nasdaq Historical Bear Markets
Watch the Market Action, Monday Jan. 7
Climateer Lives (I Think)

Maybe take a look at Only Yesterday to see how folks got tricked and trapped into a two year bear that dropped 89% top to bottom. It's a good story, well told and it may save you some money. Or heartache.

For our lullaby to Wall Street this week we'll go with a solar song.
Here's Crossing Wall Street, same theme, different tune.