Bulls, Bears, & Turkeys

Holidays are stressful times for many and the market behavior this week hasn't helped. That's true no matter if you are a bull, bear, or just a turkey!

From my perspective, today's session was simply awful. While the buying of technology this afternoon is evidence that hope remains for at least a near-term oversold bounce, most everything else continues to struggle to find a bottom as that new 52-week low list keeps adding more and more names. Making matters worse, in my perspective, is options related activity that suggests not a lot of fear is now in our midst. As a result, I sat on my hands without make one single trade.

As long as people continue to think about what they can gain from a near-term rally instead of how much they can lose, this market is likely to test our nerves. No doubt, people have finally begun to lose faith in the Fed (the danger of having any faith in them to begin with) and think we're headed, if not already in a recession. In fact, even the most adamant bulls have started to suggest they're going to wait until the Fed blinks or something really bad happens that forces the Fed to act very aggressively. It's a tough game to play when traders start thinking along these lines.

My game plan is to continue do what I've been doing - maintain an open/opportunistic mindset, keep lots of firepower at the ready, pick at some ETFs that I think will offer some upside short-term potential, and keep monitoring my watchlists for low/risk - high/reward situations within my favorite screens. I haven't done much of stock focused trading recently primarily because the price alerts I've set still haven't been tagged, though they're getting closer by the day.

All in all, probably the best thing the market could have is a holiday to gain some much needed perspective and then prepare itself for the final days of what has been a truly remarkable November.

I'm taking both tomorrow and Friday off to spend time with friends and family. May you and your family have a wonderful holiday!