Bearish Patterns...Tracks

The past two days have provided conflicting patterns in market movement. On Tuesday, the market muddled around, bouncing off its 1045-1050 support level before a late afternoon sprint up to 1062. On Wednesday, the market came out of the gates up minimally and choppy. It then spent the main part of the morning and early afternoon rallying (partially on bullish sentiment by Ben Bernanke testimony), only to peak a little after noon and then methodically fall apart into the close (ending down for the day and at the S&P level of ....).

Wednesday's action has been seen alot over the past 2 weeks and is typical of correction/bear markets -- textbook in fact. Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter has advised investors to move out of risky asset plays (stocks) because he believes the market is going to 975 before it goes back to 1100. Gartman said he would change and re-evaluate his dire opinion when the market re-evaluated and changed its actions. Tuesday was a hopeful moment, but once in two weeks is not very promising. Perhaps today's and tomorrow's data will prove strong and cause a jump --- but don't be suprised if any early market jumps based on positive economic reports are overcome by late day selloffs into the close. It'd be strong confirmation that this negative momentum is likely to drive the market into official bear territory eventually. On the other hand, if the early day jumps sustain... look for another charge toward 1100.