Complacency Gets Slammed

Breadth is negative, oil gets crushed, and all major sectors are in the red.

Last week it was the bears who were caught by surprise when the market levitated straight up all week as if all our global problems were solved. This morning it is the exact opposite. We are being slammed, and anyone who was lulled into complacency last week is now scrambling to get out of the way.

Breadth is about 9 to 1 negative. Oil-related names are being crushed, and banks, retail and gold are also seeing heavy selling. All major sectors are in the red, and all the big-cap momentum names that attracted buyers last week are under pressure.

I complained much of last week about how difficult it was to trust the upside action. I'm feeling better about that observation this morning, but that doesn't make the trading any easier. So far, the dip-buyers are unable to get any sort of bounce going, and the dip buyers who were so anxious last week that they didn't even wait for a dip are suddenly gone.

Although gold is under pressure this morning, I'm looking for some entries in the miners in anticipation of the Fed decision. I believe gold will see some interest as the Fed decision approaches.

I've started a position in Jaguar Mining (JAG), which is my stock of the week, and have my eye on a couple others like Aurizon Mines (AZK), Vista Gold (VGZ), New Gold (NGD) and Alexco Resource (AXU), but i want to see some support kick in.

At the time of publication, DePorre was long JAG, AZK and AXU, but positions will change at any time.

Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider VGZ to be a small-cap stock.  You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.