It was not a positive day of action, but, once again, the bears were proved totally inept when given an edge. The day started with pressure caused by the difficult "phase one" of the China trade deal that is dragging out. It was a national holiday for everyone, so the trading was thinner than usual and there wasn't much other news flow.
News that Boeing (BA) could resume delivery of its MAX jets starting in December helped to cause a sharp reversal in the Dow Jones around mid-day. Boeing is the highest priced stock in the Dow, and therefore has the most influence on the indexes. It was big enough to take the Dow into positive territory and drag along a big part of the overall market as well.
Breadth was quite poor to start the day but improved to two to one negative at midday and finished at around 3,000 gainers to 4,450 losers. There were some pockets of strength that helped to produce over 200 stocks at new 12-month highs, but there were 160 new lows as well.
While there was plenty of lackluster action in individual stocks, the bears are still unable to dig their claws into the indexes. They are holding up very well and are working off overbought conditions with this churning.
It has been tough trading for stock pickers looking for entries, but it is even tougher trading for market timers trying to call a top. It is likely that stock picking will start to improve thanks to this action, but trying to time a market top is going to become more difficult the longer it continues.
I'm annoyed I can't get more capital to work, but I'm pleased I'm not trying to call a market turn.
Have a good evening. I'll see you Tuesday.
