The Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) is trading down about 1%, primarily due to the poor reaction to Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) , which is down over 8% and not bouncing at all so far, and also due to nervousness in front of Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) report tonight.
Breadth is running about 2,800 gainers to 4,000 decliners Tuesday morning, and the number of new 12-month highs is back below 200. The losses in the other indices, which don't have big Google weightings, isn't that bad, but there is quite a bit of poor action and I see very few pockets of strength.
Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) and Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) are the best technical action on my screen, and I'm also interested in Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (KL) , which is struggling to turn up.
Overall, I don't like the action I'm seeing on my screens. I've been a heavy net seller as I cut positions that are showing some relative weakness.
I don't look at the index charts and try to time the market in that way. I look at the stocks I'm holding. And when I sell them, but don't find replacement buys, then, by default, I'm bearish.
There is no better market indicator than your profit and loss statement.
If you are losing money then you need to take action.
Too many people just sit there and hope it blows over. Sometimes it does, but when it doesn't, the losses build very fast.
Even though the indices aren't in bad shape, I don't like the action in individual stocks, so I'm selling some of them and raising my cash levels.
Whether that is a good move or not, I don't know, but I see little choice when things are breaking support levels.
