Market comments for March 17th, St. Patricks Day! UPDATE

I am sorry to say but it appears tonight that the trading tomorrow will not result in a day in the Green, for St. Patrick's day. As it looks tonight, the Nikkei 225 has opened down about 350 points and our markets on Wednesday were accelerating down near the close. As the charts of the S&P 500 and the Dow show, the trend down is gaining speed and suggests more movement down before we get a bounce up.


It is clear to me that we have broken well below previous support levels and by extending previous lows you can see where the next level of support is and they are much lower. For the Dow, it means we most likely are going down to 11,400 and for the S&P 500 we most likely will go down and test the 1160 level. The Put to Call ratio at 7:00am PST this morning was at 1.99 but closed for the day at 1.17, which is still the lowest it has been in some time.

Today the Dow closed at 11,613 and the S&P 500 closed at 1256. When we go down to these levels many are going to wonder if we are on our way to test the 11,000 level on the Dow. The answer is yes, we are going below 11,000 and then we will test the 10,000 level, so be prepared for more losses if you haven't headed my warnings from previous posts. Notice that in the past 5-6 trading days we have wiped out 2 months of gains. That's how quick we can go down.

The data on Initial Jobless Claims will be out at 5:30am PST on March 17th as will Continuing Claims.

In the meantime, please send a contribution to the Red Cross effort to help Japan. It will make you feel good and you will be doing something really good for people who are suffering.

UPDATE: 5:55am PST

Dow Futures are now up 107 in pre-market so now it is anyone's guess where the market will close today. Maybe we will have a bounce up as the Bulls predict, but the data on Initial Jobless Claims came in at 385K, while expectations were for 380K. Surprisingly, the CPI for February came in at +0.5% and that is an annual inflation rate of 6%. That is not a good reading. That was before Oil rose significantly and suggests that March's CPI will be higher.

If we do get a bounce up today, plan it to be still a lower high than before. As I have repeatedly said, we will have lower highs and lower lows. Stay tuned! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Haitians deserve a chance at a better life. Will this be the beginning of a better future?

There is a terrible tragedy unfolding from the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, the poorest of the island Nations in our Southern Hemisphere. These human beings have suffered so much from incompetent leaders they have had this past half century. These people deserve so much better than the hand they have been individually dealt. It is possible that with help from many Nations around the world, they can use this tragedy to free themselves of the past and help rebuild a better future for themselves and their children. I hope this time is the last time and the beginning of a less painful life for the Haitian people. Humanity cries out tonight for help. Hopefully the world will respond dramatically. Let's all help give them a chance at it by an outpouring of help and donations to charities like the Salvation Army and Red Cross.

I feel very blessed tonight I am not in their situation, as it could just as easily been an earthquake here in the San Francisco bay area. I am trying to learn as much as I can about what people need and some of the problems where people must fend for themselves. I am a first responder in my community and the importance of proper training is being driven home again tonight. Be more prepared for a tragedy so you can help yourself and your neighbors and not be a dependent on others charity and assistance. Learn to be a giver yourself.

Deja Vu all over again

I started Blogging back in May of 2005. The reason was that I was deeply concerned over the direction this country was taking and was being promoted by the Bush Administration. Today, a new story was reported by the NY Times. Here is their quote: "Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001."

The story is important to read so please click on this link and read it before you read any additional comments.

Back when I started Blogging in 2005, one of my first Blogs seemed appropriate to repost here today, given I was concerned then about violations to the Geneva Convention. If I, a person of average intelligence could deduce then, something was drastically wrong with our government, as so many others concluded, how did we slip into so much compliance and allow this degradation of our country to take place? Why weren't there protesters in the streets, as there had been in prior years? Why have the American people gone so silent and labeled someone like Dennis Kucinich "a kook," when he has shown more backbone than most of Congress and all the Senate? Here is what I wrote back in 2005:

May 2005. Where are all the street protesters?

As we approach June 4th , the anniversary of Tiananmen Square, and I reflect on our own history of student protests, it got me to wonder where are today's student protesters, as certainly there are many disturbing trends in America today, threatening the very fabric of our democracy as we search for bipartisanship in Congress and a more humble America in our rhetoric abroad and at home. But we still seem very arrogant as a nation with little understanding of the very cultures we are trying to change. I am not talking about Iraq here. I am talking about the "Divided" States of America, that's right, the good ole D.S.A., one nation, (partly) under God, very divisible, with liberty (until we can change those Senate Rules), and justice for (a few).

There was once a time of idealism, of standing up and being taken seriously by society, a conscience for all of us. This was the time of Student protests. Students protested the Vietnam war, the May 4th, 1970 Kent State shootings, Tiananmen Square and support for democracy in China, the outrage at the Chinese Government’s reaction to the protests and some recent protests of the Iraq war in selective cities.

As a nation, we have a lot to be angry about with our government. First there was the misleading “intelligence” of the lead up to the Iraq invasion and then the letters of former White House General Counsel and current Attorney General, Roberto Gonzales, regarding new interpretations of what is and what is not torture. Then the pronouncements by our President that certain prisoners would not necessarily be treated in a manner consistent with the Geneva Convention. Add to this more recent assertion about additional abuse in Guantanamo and the shameless deceit to get recruits on High School campuses to enlist, and you wonder what it takes to get Student protesters engaged again. There have been some protests of the Iraq war but they fade away quickly. What captures the focus and attention of the bulk of our students today? Could it be survival, as the job market still looks bleak? Or is it just apathy? What do you think? I don’t think they care much about what the Senate is proposing in its Nuclear Option to end the filibuster and allow judicial nominations through who by the minority see as extreme in their views. Stay tuned."