Heinz and MDAers--Tried to short some QQQ at Datek today and lo and behold, it is not shortable there. The security has an "NS" label on it. You can margin but you cannot short QQQ at Datek. DIA also had this label, but MDY and SPY did not. Is this the way it is at other brokerages? What gives? I have heard that this is a security that could even be shorted on a down tick.
It is obvious that this market is striving hard to maintain the mania. The behavior of the semis and internutz today was disgraceful. Don't these guys have any shame? (No need to answer that.)
My signals are still showing a slight positive bias, except for the NAS, which is still strongly positive (signal on NASDAQ Composite has been positive since Aug. 11) and several of the A/D signals I follow. This is even with today's activity. DOW, SPX, OEX, NYSE, TRAN don't look that bad and could turn either direction from here. I'm surprisingly even getting neutral readings on the A/D signals. Despite the positive bias of my signals, I still think this market is in trouble, but one has to admit that this is one hell of a death struggle, if that is in fact what is going on.
Don't look for help tomorrow with the CPI. I don't think that the numbers are cooked. My own work simply shows that inflation is not a problem, yet. The last word (yet) is the key word. To keep the dollar strong will require higher interest rates. That will slow the economy and the combination of higher interest rates and slowing economy will ultimately and slowly lead to lower stock prices. If we don't follow that course by continuing to pump-up liquidity channels, then inflation will accelerate owing to weakness in the dollar and a too-hot economy. The path I think the Fed will follow, because they are interested in a soft landing for the stock market, is higher interest rates. The direction of the dollar internationally is sufficient to justify these higher rates. A surprisingly high CPI number would get us there faster, but I think that is where we are heading, anyway.
Meanwhile, given all the craziness lately, I suggest a name change for this thread:
Market Analysis of Directional Hypotheses And Technical Tracking of Emotions Regarding Securities (MADHATTERS)
Cheers! |
