Stocks ended lower today, but not substantially lower. Of course, the news line was panic because the Dow was down 1 percent, but with the Dow between 10500 and 10200, is one percent really that significant? I would argue not really. Talk to me when we have some 500 point moves.
Apparently, no one at CNBC or MSNBC or for that matter, any media outlet, took a course in statistics. A one hundred point move when the Dow is at 5000 is much more significant than when its at 10000 or at our old highs in 07- 14,280. All they care about is the “biggest point moves” because that makes good headlines.
Also you’ll notice that they never discuss the highs and lows of the session. Only the close. We could break 300 points and then rally back 300 points, and if we end one point higher, they are smiling. Given the same scenario and we end one point lower, and they are crying. Quite frankly, I keep the TV on during the day, but turn the sound down. I only want to listen to what they have to say if its really “news” as opposed to info tainment.
For the day DJZ futures settled down 118 points, at 10333. DJZ had a high at 10455 and a low at 10313. Charts look like we will continue to bounce between 10200 and 10500 through the end of the year. The next 7 days of trading will honestly be almost meaningless, unless we have an event where Greece or one of the other countries on the debt watch list defaults, or if Dubai mentions that it actually needed to borrow 50 billion instead of 10 billion. Something like that could give us a scary ride, certainly because most investors, retail and professional alike have left the building along with Elvis.
SPZ posted a high at 110400 and a low tick at 109600, with a settlement at 109910 down 11.30. A look on the charts show us we were just up at our highs on Wednesday at 1116.30, while the Dow was up at the 10,500 level.
