Market Commentary: Averages Slide Sideways, But Looking Weaker

Written by Gary

Midday Market Commentary For 12-12-2013

Averages have been swinging in a narrow range all morning but remaining mostly flat. Volume has had some impressive spikes during the session, mostly red and heavy leaving speculation of investor profit taking and not just covering positions.

By noon the averages were mostly in the red with the large caps weighing in with the largest losses. Market weakness is gathering momentum and investors riding the Bull market had better get ready for a rough ride.

The short term indicators are still leaning heavily towards the sell side at the midday, but I would advise caution in taking any position because of the Fed’s cryptic utterances in hinting when the taper will begin and by how much. I would also take chart and other technical indicators with a grain of salt for the time being and watch what the Fed does WHEN it actually does something.

The longer 6 month outlook remains 40-60 sell until we can see what the Fed is actually going to do, simple as that. If we get some Fed tapering in December (17th. -18th. meeting) the markets will certainly react in a negative fashion, how much of course depends on much bond buying takes place. If the tapering begins in March 2014, like some believe it will, the markets are going to price that in by declining sooner. However, 74% of Bloomberg surveyed economists believe tapering will believe either in December or January as of 12-09-2013, but Fisher says it will take place in the first quarter. I am expecting weak to negative markets for the foreseeable future.

Members of the FOMC believe the US economy has shown signs of improvement, but they have assured short-term interest rates would remain low for quite some time to come. Alpari Market Analyst, Craig Erlam, said: “Many members of the Fed now appear eager to start winding down its asset purchases and are looking for ways to do it that will create the least disruption in the financial markets, such as setting simple thresholds for reductions, or even more simply, providing a timetable for tapering that is not data dependent.”

ADVFN reported, “The rally in question has been built on the back of the Fed’s promise of a stimulatory environment. If any catalyst points to the Fed giving up its accommodative stance, there is a danger of a pullback and near term support for the index lies around the 15,965, 15,890 and 15,804 levels.”

Personally, I think it could go a lot lower.

Also, many pundits have stated that we may have seen the top – but I wouldn’t count it as long as the Fed continues to hand out ‘Market Viagra’! I would like to see a blowout candle (shooting star) to verify a top along with heavy volume.

The DOW at 12:00 is at 15747 down 97 or -0.62%.

The SP500 is at 1776 down 6 or -0.36%.

SPY is at 178.12 down 0.53 or -0.34%.

The $RUT is at 1104 down 2.36 or -0.22%.

NASDAQ is at 4001 down 3 or 0.07%.

NASDAQ 100 is at 3463 down 6 or 0.17%.

The longer trend is up, the past months trend is bullish, the past 5 sessions have been mixed and the current bias is negative.

How Oil Really Gets Priced

WTI oil is trading between 97.31 and 98.15 today. The session bias is negative and is currently trading up at 97.54.

Brent Crude is trading between 109.96 and 108.64 today. The session bias is negative and is currently trading down at 108.66.

Gold fell (crashed) from 1256.54 earlier to 1224.25 and is currently trading down at 1227.60.

Here’s why copper has lost its indicator role

Dr. Copper is at 3.297 falling from 3.309 earlier.

The US dollar is trading between 79.85 and 80.20 and is currently trading up at 80.17, the bias is currently positive.

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Written by Gary