The market traded all over the place today. It opened down; then, went into green; but, ended pretty much where it opened, in the red! The financials bounced a little bit today. Techs were still weak. Energy plays, coals, and metals were mixed; some were stronger intraday, but, most ended on a weak note.
The fertilizers were very weak today, as investors appeared to continue to lock in profits on these. POT, MON, MOS, CF, and AGU were all down substantially, with MOS leading the way, tumbling more than 5%! Elsewhere, LDK was particularly strong today, especially near the market close. Tomorrow, LDK will be presenting at the Piper Jaffray Europe Conference. Is this speculation or do some people know something? LDK shares closed up +8.42% (in a weak market environment!) with a respectable volume. LRCX jumped almost +7% after receiving an upgrade from Goldman Sachs. FMCN bounced +7.89% on buyout rumors.
The Dow closed down 34.93 points; SPX slid 3.71 points; Nasdaq lost 17.46 points:

SOX (semiconductors) added +0.43%. XLF (financials) was up +1.16%, while HGX (housing) gained +0.97%. USO (oil) was flat, but, OIH (oil service) gave back some of yesterday’s gains, down 2.02%. UNG (natural gas) lost 1.53%. XLE (energy) dropped 1.9%. MOO (agriculture) stumbled 2.47%. FXI (Chinese ADRs) was down just 0.51%.
SPX

SPX slid 3.71 points to close at 1314.29. It touched the daily lower BB and got close to the support at 1300. The daily MAs and MACD continued to slid.
Nasdaq

Nasdaq lost 17.46 points to close at 2368.28. It almost tested the support at 2350 and bounced back. Its daily MAs and MACD also went lower.
The overall market is still weak, ahead of the FOMC meeting tomorrow. The VIX closed slight lower, but, it’s still showing the potential to go in either direction. Both SPX and Nasdaq are in their bearish formation. The individual sectors are also oscillating back-and-forth with big movements (For example, OIH broke out yesterday and gave back almost half of the gain today. MOO bounced up yesterday and was down big today.) We still need to see the financials sector drawing a bottom to feel more comfortable, preferably with XLF at least above $23. QQQQ closed just below the $47 support; not an encouraging sign. We’ll have to see what the Fed says tomorrow. Although most people do not expect any change in the rates, this market desparately needs some good news! I’m going to playing things very carefully and keep plenty of cash until the reaction to the Fed’s decision is clear.
Good night and HappyTrading! ™

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