Thursday, November 12, 2009

Stocks Decline on Dollar Strength

U.S. Stocks declined on Thursday as the Dollar managed a decent rally, after making new lows for the current downtrend this week. Same old story here. As the Dollar falls, stocks rise, as it is seen as a boost to companies that compete in overseas markets. The falling Dollar also has provided a boost to Oil prices, and therefore Oil related stocks. Today, these stocks took a bit hit.

At some point this particular relationship will change, a falling Dollar will result in inflationary pressures. Inflation perceptions will ultimate result in higher interest rates, irregardless of what the Fed does. Higher interest rates are never a good thing for stocks.

Nonetheless, this is the market we are in. It is notable that the stock market appears to be struggling at these levels, and volume on down days continues to be higher than on up days. It is also clear that the stock market leadership has narrowed significantly. The Dow Industrials are the only average to make new highs for the move in the past week. None of the other major averages has made a new high. In fact, the Russell 2000 remains about 6% below its October highs.

In a recent post, due to the Dow breaking out to new highs, I mentioned that intermediate term traders needed to get back into the market with high momentum stocks breaking to new highs. However, I added, that this should be done with caution, and today's action bears that out. All traders and investors should be very cautious at this point due mainly to the policies that the powers that be in Washington are trying to push through, and the extremely high government debt.

Going forward, I expect that the daytrading opportunities will be just as plentiful on the short side as they will be on the upside.

Stay Tuned!

Scott Cole www.bestdaytradingstocks.com

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