No Mushiness Allowed

Thus far this morning, it appears we are looking at a benign consolidation day on the indices. A few more days like this would be just what the doctor ordered to firm up a bunch of these charts for better entry points, such as Sprint (S). We have come close to getting that type of scenario earlier this summer, but to no avail, as virtually each time it looked like the market would keep pushing higher we would see several gapping days lower that forced charts to reset, once again.

While it is true that the bulls have been winning out on the whole since early-June, in terms of making higher highs and higher lows on the indices, many gains (and losses) have come from overnight and opening gaps, making it a much riskier environment than it seems on its face. The one thing for sure is that becoming excessively sentimental to either the bull or bear case has seen you suffer nasty whipsaws this summer. There are many different ways to profit in the market, but I much rather wait when the odds are tilted in my favor a bit more before I would aggressively load up my portfolio with inventory one way or the other.

I also see that Treasuries and the Dollar are attempting to bounce this morning after their sharp sell-off late last week as equities rallied. There seems to be plenty of people looking for Treasuries to top out once and for all, but long-term uptrend tend to die hard and with a loud bang. Trying to time the top in TLT has been an awfully tough game, and it is just another reason to let the stock market prove itself a bit more here before the seemingly automatic election year rally unfolds.