15/01: Markets sell-off to key support levels

If I were to offer you, dear reader, a quarter for every 'reset' in relations between myself and this blog (and a half dollar for each unapologetic mixing of cliches), then you might have the green for a free lunch! Yet, as the saying goes, there is no such thing. And, esteemed reader, you already are privy to uptake of the latest mind bullets within this trader's mind, so what's another quarter or half dollar?

With that positively garish introduction, I must now add a pinch of the customary humility: yes, I regret this latest of my absences from the blog; yes, I shall not leave my dear lambs any more; no, I do not intend to disappear again in a fortnight or two. I live to serve my readers. Right.

**

In brief, my non-trading life -- which would, naturally, be comprised in large part by my alter ego of rather excessive travelling -- enjoyed some highly notable moments during my absence from regular posting, i.e. the two-month period since about mid-November. I enjoyed hops to the exotic locales of Traverse City (MI) and Madison, obligatory multiple visits to West Coast mileage run destinations of San Francisco and Seattle, and most significantly, a roaring and powder-dumping skiing jaunt to the northern Lake Tahoe area. Below, looking beautiful, is a specimen of the oft-maligned CRJ species, on an idyllic late-November afternoon on the Chicago O'Hare tarmac:



**

Finally, markets! Yes, this blog's true raison d'etre. Friday's trade proved more tumultuous than any in this still-young year, with indices declining to significant support levels that, if broken in follow-up trade of early next week, would provide fertile grounds for an intensified sell-off (a.k.a. the correction forecast by every talking-head analyst and his grandmother). To add some objectivity to the just-spewed blabber, the S&P500 ended Friday's market action with a 1.1% decline (-12 points) to 1136, while the DJIA declined 0.9% and the NASDAQ erased 1.2%. The S&P500's intra-day registered a trading range between 1148 and 1131. Here's a 10-day chart of the broad-based benchmark, courtesy of bigcharts.com:



My own trade of Friday was not altogether laudable, as the sharpness of the morning pull-back took me by surprise. I entered the session long in X (that's US Steel) calls, which defied a bullish chart by savagely selling-off in the opening minutes, though recovering considerably later. Materials stocks, such as US Steel, alongside financials have been the market leaders since the Christmas holiday while the previous baton-carrier, technology, has been a relative underperformer. It shall be interesting to see whether Friday's unnerving pull-back shall henceforth disrupt this market dynamic of risk-trade leadership. I wrap-up with a quick artistic musing on the essence of '10dX':