I'm hearing a lot of folks toss a phrase around attributed to Joe Granville: "If it's obvious, it's obviously wrong!"
Ummm, I'm not sure how many of you have data on Mr. Granville's performance, but Mark Hulbert noted that The Granville Market Letter "is at the bottom of the Hulbert Financial
Digest's rankings for performance over the past 25 years – having
produced average losses of more than 20 percent per year on an
annualized basis." So I wouldn't go tattooing everything he says on your forehead or anything.
The "obvious" thing these days is the head and shoulders pattern on the S&P. I admit, this thing has been exasperating. Before the market opened on Monday, it seemed ready to fulfill its destiny, but then Ms. Whitney decided to show up.
The above is the /ES, which incorporates the after-hours surge credited to INTC's earnings release. We're at a dangerous zone here. A cross above 928.25 on the /ES would put the final nail in the coffin on this pattern. But until then, I urge you remember a lesson from BRCM in 2000.
At the time, this stock also had a similarly exciting pattern.
Yet it wouldn't seem to break 130 as it "should" have. One day it even went beneath 130 and then climbed right back up again. You can imagine how the bears were going insane with this stock as its freakish second right shoulder was formed.
The point I want to make is that sometimes these topping patterns take longer to play out than we would like. You have to just be patient sometimes. My point is better made with BRCM, though. I've tinted in the (now tiny) pattern which presaged what was to come.
Anyway, I had fallen back in love with the market, but the first couple of days of this week have turned me cold in a big, big hurry. It'll be interesting to see how tomorrow stacks up when it's finally over. As of this moment, it certainly looks like another slam-dunk for the bulls.
