It has been said that the opposite of love isn't hate but disinterest, and that seems to be the dominate emotion at work in the market today. Once again, the action isn't that bad. It is down a few points and breadth is weaker, but there isn't any big rush for the exits. The market is just drifting around with a slight negative bias.
From a trading standpoint, this is the worst sort of action. Strong emotions, either positive or negative, are what produce tradable action. Even in flat markets, there are usually pockets of action that attract the hot money, but there isn't anything of significance today.
Quite a few commentators have predicted that the fiscal-cliff debate would produce a high level of volatility. Instead we have been frozen. Virtually everyone seems to think a deal will eventually be made and that the political back-and-forth in the meantime is irrelevant. There isn't much reaction at all to the news flow, which really is the correct response since none of it is meaningful right now.
I see little to do but to stay patient and keep looking for new ideas. The good news is that flat action like this is often a setup for a strong move. We just need to make sure we don't fall asleep while we wait.
