With the PPT busy trying to shore up the market, we finally see desperation acts like the covered bond idea, The "free market" is getting abused and corrupted every single day.
This continuous manipulation is confusing participants in such a way that technically a counter trend rally may manifest. However, if the market is right, and we know the market is always right, the pop might just be a bear market trap, that in the short term might send the market even lower.
In the last couple of weeks the DIA has been up and down in a range of roughly 750 points.
So all indicators are off unless we compensate for bear market volatility. Small time investors do not have access to this kind of info and would probably get burn as always.
Dont people get tired of hedonic data and perma-bull pundits, or the perma-bears are just banging their drums in vain?
"Bull markets won't let you in. Bear markets won't let you out.""Never confuse brains with a bull market.""End of week and end of day strength reflects a bull market. Bear markets do the reverse.""Discipline is more important than conviction."

Now you will hear all the talking heads signalling BUY BUY!!!
I dont want to spoil your party, but if you are going ga ga with this bear market, short covering rally, you will be in a world of pain.
We did not get the crash thanks to the bailout of the GSE's Now it is going to be tougher to try to guess the future direction of the markets.
Conviction trumps discipline or is it the other way around???

Good Trading to all

I feel compelled to write about the bear trap rally that developed today:
Some talking heads are calling a bottom, some are calling the start of the 2008 second half recovery, but nobody is talking about the dangerous meltdown zone we are entering.
With some financials going up more than 17% (check out WM for today 7/08/08) we are risking a severe crash... Unless the blabbering media is right and the crazy technicians that say we are extremely oversold (some quoting worden t2108) call for a buying opportunity....
il
Think about it, Bernanke spoke at 8:30, but it took the PPT until 2 PM to stage a rally!

So it looks like Ben is still moving markets