I thought I might try something different here, and see how it goes. It's quite difficult for me to post a lot to the various topics, especially with charts, since the method I use for posting charts is very cumbersome. Some charts can take me a half hour or more to put together. Since the charts I use for posting are not my 'working' charts, this work is duplicative.

I have various ideas and thoughts here and there about different things, and if I have a 'central clearing area' where I can just put out a sentence or two, pointing to something without doing the work, the members can do what assessment and analysis they want with the ideas, and post charts if they want, preferably to the respective areas they have for that topic. This way it would leave this topic more 'clean'. If you have a question or comment on what I was pointing out you could post that in here.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this, or anything you think would be helpful/useful. Keep in mind I am not going to just tell you all my best setups in advance, especially if I plan to trade them, as that is not 'what I do' in here, or anywhere. I want to point out things that may need some work, and might go unnoticed otherwise, or are just of interest.

Great links Jim, Roofer thanks for posting!!

Okay, clue time. AA kicks off earnings with a loss of 1.49 vs. estimates of 10 cents. It's now up, as are the futures. CSX also came in light and the futures held strong. JPM moves up its reporting date, and it goes up aftermarket. Hmmmm.

P.S. AA has now moved down a bit off that nice spike up, at about the closing price now. Still, I'm thinking they are tired of selling bad news, so we may be in for a small bounce in here after all this grinding selling. Just something I'm keeping an eye out for.

Now CSX has made back all its drop since the close on its missed eranings, back to near the closing price. Hmmmm. Expecting bad earnings, seeing worse earnings, going up. Hmmmm.

Maybe people don't know what to expect anymore....

This is just my layman's opinion but I think this month will show new lows and the market teetering on the brink. All this garbage needs to be burned into the ground. So tired of all these knuckleheads...

Okay, now we see what the great bellwether IBM says, and how they react after such a big dump today. This will tell us a lot, IMO.

Very cool, very obvious, so far. They come in light on revenues but beat on the expected earnings, and the stock is exploding, with the futures following. Can't wait to see how they react as this gets digested. Will they go from 'We are terrified the entire financial system is about to be nationalized and all financial shares will be worth zero' to 'Looks like the economy is doing pretty good afterall...' in one second flat? Too funny.

C just reported they are cutting their dividend to a penny. Hmmm, took them long enough. Now that the shares are trading a 2 handle...

Here's an interesting article on foreclosures.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/real_estate/ghost_inventory/index.htm

Everyone see that big 4-Point Continuation Pattern in the ES? Well, we are in bull mode, so we all know it will fail, but it's fun to look at :-)

J,u know i was watching this ES.
nice spot indeed but the close right near the .886 ret area is concerning. I had an early trigger on it for a small size put options,just in case they gap it over the weekend.But the reverse case,the bullish breakout,is possible here too.I'm just going with the pattern for now and letting the trading plan play out as it should. The action going into the PTA was 100% bullish though,shooting almost straight to it.
Im not gonna second guess my trading plan and the PTA here.It's plain and basic execution from here,IF this is going to do what it should.Im fine with stop outs though,it's part of the game,sometimes it works some other times it doesn't.Nothing wrong with 'controlled risk'.
By the way, the symetric time projection for the pattern points to monday afternoon.

regards,
T

I think the second chart is particularly telling. I agree with the conclusion, this market is nothing more than Euro-yen carry trade on, Euro-yen carry trade off. No balance, no participation, no depth, as I discussed in my last monthly commentary, just leverage/deleverage, risk on/risk off, and that's it. Skynet is totally sentient. How long, like in the movie, until the machines decide to vaporize the useless humans?

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/tale-two-decouplings