I, for one, am ready to punch this market in the throat.
Since I can't do that, at least I know 2011 will be over in six trading days. I've had enough.
Now that the mere marking of a new calender year is suddenly going to change everything. But this market is driving almost everyone batty. In case you forgot what a trend looks like, here's the latter portion of last year on the NASDAQ:
Here's the same market this year. Just a bunch of range-bound flippity-floppys.
Lest you think I'm just pissing and moaning, here's another way to look at it. Here's the NASDAQ 100 on a percentage basis for all of 2011. No change here at year's end, and in the midst of that, up and down about 8% in wild, unpredictable swings.
Ironically, this seems to have put everyone into a complacent stupor. Just check out the VIX over the past couple of months.
If there's one chart I feel pretty good about, it's the Euro. I think it's heading down, and I think the downtrend is going to be sustained and signifcant.
I also notice there's a lot of bullishness on the blog these days; everyone has "Santa Rally" on the brain. That's understandable. I will say, however, that as long as we stay beneath that descending trendline (at about 1260 or so), there isn't cause of too much bullish celebration.
Avid Slopers, I am letting you know again that next week I'm going to be on "vacation" (my vacations are always in quotes), so it's going to be less frenetic around here. Starting the first week of January, we'll hit the ground running.
Good night.
