Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Stocks follow through on Monday rally

U.S. stocks followed through on yesterday's gains to post another 100+ point performance in the Dow. Most of the other major averages made larger percentage gains. It appears that the major averages will be re-testing the September and bull market highs in the near future. However, they are doing so after a larger downside move than the pullbacks seen in August and early September. With that in mind, this re-test could end up as a classic double top, or it will require a bit more consolidation to move significantly above these highs.

The downside to all this is that there is a very high inverse correlation between stocks and the dollar. The dollar was hit today as it was rumored that the oil sheiks are getting a little antsy about pricing oil in dollars. This caused a big spike up in Gold, which closed at all time highs. Gold is a traditional inflation hedge, and it is widely felt that the Chinese are hedging their investments in U.S. Treasuries with the yellow metal.

Gold and Oil stocks provided some solid daytrading opportunities and some high momentum stocks broke out of their recent consolidation patterns to post new highs. A number of others are poised to make new breakouts as well, but as this rally is getting a bit long in the tooth, I suggest that traders should remain cautious and not have all of their cards on the table. While today's volume was a bit better than yesterday, it remains relatively light. Any new high in the major averages over the next week or so will result in some divergences in several price/volume indicators.

Stay tuned!

Scott Cole

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