Stocks put in a boring day of trading, volume tails off at the end of the trading session

At the open, traders were giddish with decent consumer spending and income numbers. Both came in higher than expected igniting the bulls at the open. Quickly fading, the euphoria of the morning wore off and stocks began to drift south. Stocks continued their path of directionless trading or as CNBC calls it “CHOPPY.” We can not call this market anything else but FLAT. Like come sea water, opposite forces are equal. Coming into the close stocks rose but volume had already left for the weekend. It seems the lackluster trading has beaten down many traders who’ve closed out their positions and have gone home for the weekend. Increasingly, this market has gotten boring!

Some market stats:

70% of stocks are over their 200dma
52% of stocks are over their 50dma

CBOE overall put/call for Friday: 1.19
CBOE equity put/call for Friday: 0.7

I am going to add the lack of accumulation by big instituitonal boys to the pot. What am I trying to point out here? Basically, we are directionless because there is a lack of quality to buy and a lack of big money to push anything higher. Another statistic would be the amount of Margin Debt outstanding. However, it is a monthly statistic for the NYSE. In Feburary, margin debt hit an all time high even higher than in March of 2000. There are too many negatives internally that when you add in the housing woes it just down right depressing!

CASH, the #1 spot to be. CASH, the #1 stop to be.

Cash is king, cash will be king…cash is your friend. Save your trading capital, preservation of capital and the ability to wait patiently on the sideline will keep you on top.

Enjoy your weekend!
Aloha,
MS

marketspeculator@gmail.com