FUTURES INDICATE LOWER OPEN

Futures are indicating a lower open – not unexpected by any means. Personal incomes in the U.S. have reportedly decreased by 1.3 percent, the largest decline in four years.

But yesterday – what an amazing day! The ole Bulls had themselves a big one, thanks to a plunge in the $USD, escalation of international equity indexes and a better than expected reading on the US ISM index. And a Ford Motor sales increase helped too. Each of the major indices, in the end, closed at new intermediate highs.

But the underinvested Bulls and the Bears who invested short have been feeling pretty darn ill as they have day after day watched this market soar. And one after another the pain has felt heavy and huge, and they have been jumping aboard the momentum train speeding further and further into overbought territory, hoping to collect at least some quick trading profits before the train ride is over. Of course, the number of charts with decent entry points have become fewer and fewer, making it ever more difficult to find ways to participate.

We at Hill and Street News have participated in the market for quite some time, felt no need to jump into high-risk moves – and are growing ever more concerned as the need for consolidation continues to escalate. We are, as probably are most folks, keeping an eye on the late 2008 resistance level. And, too, we are not forgetting that all of the problems that drove the market lower have not gone away – and even most companies that reported better than expected earnings did so largely based on lowered expectations.