Craptastic Crap Sandwich of a Market (DIA; SPY)

What was it that the slave would supposedly whisper in the ear of the returning victorious Roman General?* ["All glory is fleeting" -ed].

So there I was, up on the highest rooftop proclaiming "this market wants to go higher".
That was 390 DJIA points ago.

Since then we've had a couple 2% stops triggered and one 3%.
There are plenty of positive technicals, a big one being positive money flows into 24 of the 30 DJIA stocks:

Money flow ratings for the Dow 30 DJIA -1.41%  stocks soared last week. The price weighted ratings jumped from 78% to 87% positive. This short-term indicator of money flow confirms that the short-term buying cycle continues to change individual members of the DJIA to positive, taking the index higher....
-MarketWatch

But reality is reality and every firm-crushing big loss was once a small loss so I'm going to re-read one of the best traders of the last fifty years:

Climateer Line of the Day: "Babe Ruth of the CBOT" Edition


I usually do a snip and source for the prestigious CLoD but this time it's an extended exerpt.
From Futures Magazine, May 1, 1999:

When a typical trader retires or loses his fortune and never returns to the pits, it is doubtful his name will be remembered among the thousands who have walked through the exchange doors.

But there are always exceptions. Everett Klipp, former owner of Alpha Futures and 50-year veteran of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), recently stepped down from day-to-day trading, preferring to spend his days golfing under the hot Florida sun. But the mention of his name still evokes smiles and praise from the traders he befriended and mentored over the years.

"Everett's the Babe Ruth of the Chicago Board of Trade," says James Zavesky, president of Chicago-based Eclipse Futures. "He's an icon in the Chicago business scene."

Klipp was born in Manteno, a farming town in central Illinois. A self-proclaimed "farm boy," he began working as a runner at the CBOT in 1946 for a firm that eventually became Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Bean. What began as a part-time job to fill his days while he attended Chicago Technical College in the evenings developed quickly into a passion and a career.

Following the traditional course of progression, Klipp clerked with John Morris & Co. for 8 years until a friend in Morris' office loaned him $4,200 to buy a seat in the wheat pit. Before he bid on his first bushel of wheat, though, Klipp sought out some advice from John Morris that later became the foundation of his simple but disciplined trading style.

"Mr. Morris told me anytime you can take a loss, do it. and you'll always be at the [CBOT]," Klipp says, "I lost money that first day and kept losing until I retired in 1998."

...MORE

The Chicago Tribune reported Mr. Klipp's death:

Everett Klipp, 1926-2011

 The DJIA is down another 194 while the S&P is down a bit more in percentage terms, 24.74 (2.00%)

*The sourcing on that story is dubious.
In the early 1400's the phrase "Sic transit gloria mundi" was used in the coronation ceremoney of new Popes.

Extending it back to the Romans seems to have been the work of the 1970 movie "Patton":
Last line
Patton

[voiceover] For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.

-IMDB

I mentioned another bit of "Patton" ahistory a few weeks ago in:

#OccupyWallStreet Proclaims Victory, Announces Plan to Re-launch #OccupyMom'sBasement

...Don't get me wrong, I'm as much into anarcho-capitalism as the next guy, I think I'd do pretty well whatever the ground rules.

It's just that #OWS isn't showing the kind of higher-level cognitive abilities you'll find at, say, MI-6 or the initiative of the Navy Seals or even the spirit of Danton [warning: digression ahead! -ed]

"L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!"

("Audacity, audacity — always audacity!")
-incorrect quote incorrectly cited to Frederick the Great
in the movie Patton (see below)

"De l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace..."

(audacity, more audacity, and ever more audacity...)
-Georges Danton ...