It was a shaky morning, but the results of the Spanish bank stress tests were a sufficient excuse for a little dip-buying. I also suspect that we still have window-dressing action taking place. It has been a terrible quarter for active money managers and they simply can't afford to let any gains slip away in the waning hours of September.
I'm a bit surprised that we had such extensive weakness in the early going but that is a sign that sentiment is slipping. Buyers just aren't feeling as comfortable with aggressive dip-buying right now and there continues to be deterioration in my individual chart patterns, including the mighty Apple (AAPL).
I've lifted my cash holdings to very high levels and I am just trying to knock out a few quick trades as opportunities arise. Qualys (QLYS), which debuted today, offered an opportunity, but I'm more inclined to flip rather than build positions here.
Monday will be an interesting battle between general tendencies. We have had consistently weak Mondays for months, but the first day of a new month tends to have a positive bias.
I see no reason to amend my thesis that the market is undergoing a topping process and I remain suspicious of strength. Right now, the bulls are pushing hard for the final markup, but after that, it is going to be much tougher to find positive catalysts.
