Phantasmix Stock Market Blog

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, ^SPX
Click charts to enlarge

Broke the triangle to the downside. Positives still “on the table” – flattening 50dma, low volume on a down day (must be attributed to the holiday season, therefore is not a clear indicator).

And as a follow up to yesterday’s post on pivot points, here’s a picture of what actually happened. We didn’t get anywhere close to the resistance levels, support levels were helpful, but only briefly.

I want to thank the people who make our life easier. I really like our mailman, my hairdresser and the butcher. Our building manager is pretty nice and helpful, too.

Tough to decide what to give: don’t want to seem like a total cheapskate but still want to show “we appreciate you”. And you never know what they’re allergic or morally opposed to.

We gave chocolate truffles to a client once. When he called to thank us, he said “Even though I have diabetes, my granddaughter enjoyed them very much”. And yet candy seems like a safe choice. In worst case, they can just re-gift it.

• The Mailman got a special edition holiday Toblerone ($8.50). Everyone loves Toblerones, right? He didn’t seem very moved but said that he’s in our area for awhile, hopefully he’ll be here next year as well (his words). So I’m thinking he wasn’t too offended. I thought about giving money but it’s against the law.
• I tipped the Hairdresser 100%. I did well here, she was happy, everyone loves cash.
• The Building Manager will either get a box of cookies or a Tim Horton’s gift card. He’s always carrying a Tim’s cup.
• The Butcher is tricky. We shop at the Whole Foods, so would a WF gift card be appropriate? A steak? cash? I’m open to ideas. He is a very friendly young guy. I don’t want him to misinterpret it though.

Holiday tipping guide from CNN
The article suggests that cash is the best choice, average recommended tip is $20 or so, with some going a lot higher.

Daily $SPX chart as of December 19th close

A few positives when lines drawn like this (click to enlarge), and volume is down on “red” days. The negative – Bollinger Bands are very narrow, usually this doesn’t end well. And with lines drawn another way (desceding upper line), we have a bearish formation, instead of this bullish one.

SSO (Ultra S&P ETF) indicators are more “in focus”. Lots of triangles that should soon resolve, one way or another.

Weekly $SPX chart as of Dec 19 close
Last time we had dojis and narrowing BBands narrowing just like now was right before the waterfall decline. MACD is improving, but not out of the woods yet.

And here’s SSO Weekly for comparison

Look at that volume in the last couple of months! Again, a bunch of dojis forming, narrowing BBands, Stochastics are about to get overbought, without much advance.

I have no clue what’s going to happen, but leaning towards bearish side more than bullish. Not planning any trades before the New Year or until we get a sign about where this is going.