The Morning Call-Investors unimpressed by Ryan selection

The Market

Technical

The indices (DJIA 13169, S&P 1404) had another boring day, finishing just slightly to the downside. They remain (1) near the upper boundaries of their short term trading ranges [12022-13302, 1266-1422] and (2) within their intermediate term uptrends [12153-17153, 1279-1859].

Volume was down; breadth deteriorated. Surprisingly, the VIX was down 7% on a down Market day (usually the VIX is up on a fall in prices). This is the fourth day in our time and distance discipline challenge. Generally, that would mark confirmation of the break; however, as I noted last week, the first two days of this break were just pennies below the support level. I am going to wait one more day before making the ‘confirmation’ call.

What is volume telling us? (short):
http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/guest/Bill-Hardison-120813-Market-Volume.php

GLD was off but remains well above the lower boundary of its intermediate term trading range. However, it backed off the level of the last in a series of lower highs.

Bottom line: yesterday was another typical late summer vacation day characterized by low volatility and low volume. I had thought that the Ryan VP selection might energize investors; wrong again. As a result, my original thought is probably correct; that is, we are likely to experience a typical late summer snooze fest through the Labor Day holiday.

The Averages remain in the upper quadrant of their short term trading ranges---not a level at which I want to be Buying. Indeed, my focus is on the Sell side---monitoring those holdings that are near to either their Sell Half Ranges or trading highs.