Good evening StockBandits!
A weak open this morning set the tone for the day’s trading, and the buyers never emerged. The indexes drifted lower to move deeper into their respective trading ranges, confirming the failed breakouts we’ve seen in recent days. By the end of the session, the indexes had given up 1.2% across the board, again shying away from upper resistance zones.
The inability of the bulls to capitalize on recent breakout attempts remains a concern. They’ve got longer-term momentum on their side with a 9-month rally of magnificent proportions off the March lows, but the stalled-out appearance of the daily charts at these levels implies they’re facing some fatigue. At the same time, we still have yet to see a breakdown or any downside follow through, which means the bears haven’t had much to work with. At some point, we’ll see this range get broken with some force and better momentum will arrive. Until then, we either stay sidelined and preserve capital by not overtrading, or we take a stick-and-move approach with shortened timeframes and tight stops.
Tomorrow is options expiration, so the action could get choppy as the day progresses. Also keep in mind that the end of the year is fast approaching, so volume is likely to start tapering off very soon. My plan at this point is discussed in the video, but essentially I’ll produce the Bandit Broadcast through next Tuesday, December 22nd, and then be done for December. I always take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s, but have no intentions of returning to trade on New Year’s Eve since it’s such a quiet day. The end of the year is a great time to reflect, rest, and renew goals for the coming year, so I’d encourage you to do the same. I also wrote about this very thing on the blog this morning. Anyway, I’ll be sure to post my plans again here as next Tuesday arrives, but wanted to give you a heads-up.
Please leave your comments and/or questions below if you have any, I always enjoy the interaction.
Here is tonight’s video:
The Bandit Broadcast Video – Click to Watch!
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Video Stocks Discussed: MCO, JOE, CAL, HUN, WMS, VMW, BBY
Swing Trading Candidates:
NONE TONIGHT
Bullish Watch:
SLG, CBT, VNO, TTM, ALK, MCO, JOE, CAL, CEG, CRZO, HUN, IMAX
Bearish Watch:
FCX, WMS, CEDC, AIG, FWLT, ARO, CNQ, STT, FLS, BIDU, CLF, WYNN, VMW, ORLY, SINA, NFLX, BBY, BAC, FSYS, NOV
The Hit List will be coming out soon with discussion on open positions and swing trade stops and targets, so be sure to watch for it.
