Bank Warnings Trigger Late Sell-Off
Written by Scott Redler
November 16, 2011 04:54pm
US markets dropped sharply in the final hour of trading Wednesday, triggered by warnings about US bank exposure to the growing European crisis. The S&P fell 1.66%. Fitch warned that further contagion could pose serious risks and the Eurozone crisis must be resolved swiftly and orderly. The wedge pattern that has been building now looks set to resolve to the downside.
I got stopped out of my momentum longs when we broke around $125.50 SPY. This is a very tough and frustrating tape to trade. I leave to speak for Schwab at the Las Vegas trader's expo, so I won't be as active over the next couple of days. I will hold SPY calls, but I won’t be by my computer to trade positions.
One of my rules is to cut risk when I’m not in full control of keyboard. I’m long SCO (inverse oil ETF) (I believe we can see a pull-back after a massive run) and long small SPY October calls. I am trying to give them room, but the market does feel like it will now resolve the wedge to the downside.
Important S&P macro support is at 1232-1238, then 1225. The macro line in sand is the 50day moving average at 1205ish, so give it the zone 1190-1205.
Choose your time frame according to your risk tolerance. The market is thin because a lot of big players, which aren't as nimble, are choosing to stand on the sidelines. I trade momentum and the trend, which is hard to maintain right now. When I don’t feel like I have a firm handle on the trend I actively maneuver. The uptrend that started Oct 4 is now in question, and I will wait for more clarity before getting aggressive.
Long-term investors should generally stay the course, but if you were swing trading this 7 week move up that went as high as 1292, make sure you are locking in some of those gains.
Banks are a major problem, exacerbated by Moody's downgrade of German banks just before the close. Goldman Sachs (GS) broke that $98 level that we’ve been watching closely. I would not be surprised if France got a downgrade soon, even before the end of the week.
*DISCLOSURES: Scott Redler is long SCO and SPY calls. He traded SPY OIH APA SNDK AAPL GOOG MGM REDF BIDU GLD SLB BIDU but is now flat those positions.