Tough day in the market for bulls–even bears. Seemed like both were playing chicken today. Looks like the bulls swerved down a cliff towards the end. Below is a chart of the total stock market index.

[edit: I purposely chose the time frame from March of 2009 through now, because that shows the current volume by price profile of this important (countertrend) rally].

The magenta represents the volume by price bars.  As you can see, we are in tricky territory.  We have dipped below the February 5 low.  The market is literally at the edge of a precipice here. I've no predictions about which way it is going to go.  It is reasonable to expect a bounce–but the news flow will need to be supportive of that.

I have something wondrous to share with you:  Weekly Sector Charts with a twist!  I was up early this morning, and I had a thought noodling in my head. I was interested in what the short interest was for the various subsectors. I decided that I wanted to create (for you and me!) a sorted list on that.
For that I went to FINVIZ.

 I calculated the number of short shares (% of float short x float).  I then multiplied that by the share price to come up with the market value of the float that was short.  The table that I prepared had % of market cap short and % of shares short.  I've a new/fast computer, and this process taxed the resources.  I've included the report within my sector report.  I hope that you will download the full report. You will not be sorry, and I guarantee that you will see some things that will surprise you!  It is in PDF, and it is very easy to read.  You can find it here.

Let's take a look at the Weekly Sector Graph. You do not have to adjust your screen.  The 24 sectors are all negative.  Only 5 of the subsectors were positive.  The broad market index was down 3.7%.  As usual, individual sector mileage varied, which is why I put these together.

[source:  data from StockCharts]

Now let's drill down and look at the subsector 10 best/worst performers.

[source:  The Wall Street Journal]

Happy trading next week.

Somehow this sepia photo (mine) of the water bottle seemed to be relevant to current matters.  My hope that it is not the permanent symbolism for the Gulf of Mexico.
Last week was a significant rebound in the 24 major sectors with basic resources leading the charge higher.  The major indices are at a critical juncture technically.  It's important to remember that individual stocks make sectors and sectors comprise indices.  Accordingly, looking at individual sectors can yield clues about the indices.  Underlying sector rotation  can cause chop…and if the news stream starts a fire and flames the fears of investors, then the indices will put the those flames out by stopping, dropping, and rolling…OVER.

Let's take a look at the 24 Major Sectors:

You will remember that last week, that graph was upside down.  I have created a chart book for you that you can find here.  It contains the weekly + daily charts for the 24 Sectors above.  Also, it contains all 147 DJUS sectors sorted by relative performance to the total stock market index.

For the week, the 10 Best/Worst performing industries were as follows:

 Source:  WSJ Industry Page

Next week will be a critical week as the market digests geo-political and economic information.  Keep your trading wits about you and focus on your disciplines, not the opinions of others.