NASDAQ still due for some residual testing

Traders and speculators failed yesterday in their attempt to incite a downdraft for NASDAQ, with the index closing down only a few points and well above the opening dip. They made a valiant push later in the day with a further 15-point decline, but NASDAQ bounced right back. Futures are bouncing around this morning, indicating uncertainty as to how much testing remains, but as of this moment they are down modestly, indicating that traders do expect the testing to continue with a modest dip at the open. Once again, the big question is whether speculators respond by piling on with any vigorous and enthusiastic selling, or buying the dip as we saw yesterday.

 

In short, we're still not out of the woods for this technical testing, and we're still not out of the woods for some deep-pocketed bearish short-term speculators to hang back and wait until the market gets a little more over-extended with buying exhaustion before they leap and go for a 50 or even another 100-point swoon, but even if they do or even if they don't, NASDAQ and the underlying economy are still positioned to keep incrementally advancing upwards, despite the occasional potholes along the way.

 

I'll probably pick up a little Lulu Athletica (LULU) at the open with a huge dip due to purported disappointment over their quarterly report and forecast. Sure the results were a little disappointing, but not THAT bad.

 

Correction from yesterday: I said IMF when I should have said World Bank – I do know the difference, but I always think of them as twins and they are difficult to tell apart sometimes from their public statements alone unless you stop and think for more than two seconds. The good news is that even though the World Bank lowered their global forecast for the year, it is still growth at a faster pace than last year.

 

-- Jack Krupansky