19/10: S&P500 breaks 1100 in bouyant intra-day trade

Apologies to the devoted regular reader -- all zero of you -- for the absence of posts within the last week, and for a dearth within the last fortnight. I've been abuzz with various tangential activities, not least being business with Georgetown that required a trip for various meetings in Washington and New York. Now firmly back in Chicago, however, I take up the task of trading with greater fervour than before. Here, in the fertile lake-side lands of the CBOE and the Merc, near the hallowed corridors and libraries of the eponymous (vis-a-vis the city) University, within the milieu of former stockyards and current derivatives houses, all greased by the utilitarian surroundings of transport, weather and sports teams (with regards to any of these, nothing over which to get terribly poetic, but yet they all 'work'); here, I cast my net.

On a personal note, I've recently upgraded my technological capabilities relating to work. The proud father of a netbook (really, it's quite revolutionary, v/v value and mobile opportunities), I now work on three screens at once, armed with streaming information everywhere from the invisible glow of a newly established wifi network. I'm also better armed for mobile blog posts from the road (in my case, generally Buckies, er, Starbucks).

And so it is tonight. But now down to an abridged report on today's markets.

Euphoria reins supreme, the markets are heading upward with little hesitation and even less volatility, and 52-week highs are noted as easily as major psychological resistance levels (i.e. round numbers vis-a-vis the benchmarks) are neared and broken. In short, the need for vigilance is higher than ever. A pull-back -- possibly sharp -- is a real possibility; but in the meantime, profits from long positions may yet be plentiful.

The main story today was the S&P500. The index, after an open at 1088 and an intra-day low near 1086, reached an intra-day high around midday of 1100.17 before pulling-back marginally to close at 1098. Very bullish, needless to say. Yet the bear case cannot be ignored, as presented with a broad-stroke in the above paragraph. Worth adding: some analysts were going on record during the summer, when the rally was far more nascent, that the upward thrust may vault the S&P to the vicinity of 1100 or 1150. Caveat emptor. From the usual source:



I shall cut the analysis short and halt here. For one, I am seeing the Coen brothers' newest release, "A Serious Man," in a mere 10 minutes, and the cinema is about a dozen miles from my present location (Highland Park, IL versus Skokie, respectively). Furthermore, I sat out today's market and hence lack personal trading anecdotes which I could relate. Subsequent updates shall touch upon last week's trading -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. You deserve all the meat, dear reader.