MARKET COMMENT
Dave Fry, ETF Digest, February 25, 2009
It’s been a volatile market but you don’t need me to tell you that right? Bears hit stocks hard in the early going only to see things turn sloppy around mid-day. However, Bernanke in continued testimony indicated no immediate intention to nationalize banks and that helped those share prices. This in turn lifted equity indexes.
The 1:30 PM Stick Save Express arrived to rally stocks powerfully off their lows. But, in the end there was no taste to hold on as stocks caved near the close.
Volume was similar to yesterday but breadth was decidedly negative which only means the McClellan Oscillator will not be lifted too far off its lows.
That sums things up for today. The day-to-day volatility remains just way too high. You put your toe in the water and you lose your entire leg. So you must be patient unless you’re day trading. The latter has been the venue and style of choice that can produce results. Most investors don’t have the time or fortitude to deal with markets on that basis.
The Treasury auctions continue. While bonds are getting sold the results in the aftermarket for them haven’t been good. There are more bonds to be sold than you can shake a stick at which is why many want to short.
There are just two more trading days in the month and it’s hard to imagine we’ll close the month flat or even higher. But, we’ve witnessed some powerful bear market rallies since the bear first made its appearance.
Let’s see what happens.
Disclaimer: Among other issues the ETF Digest maintains positions in: IEF, TLT, TBT, GLD, GDX and FXE.
