Bear Mountain Bull

It’s time again for a little BMB R&R, especially with the market behaving as bizarrely as it’s been. Maybe if we stop watching it start to behave a little better…

Posting will be very light and variable over the course of this week, but we’ll put up an open thread each market day for our readers to comment on the day’s market activity or to post any interesting links they might run across.

Check the space below for whatever the latest might be during this ‘off’ time, and please visit the various sites in the ‘Links’ and ‘Regular Stops’ for up-to-date market news and analysis.

BMB will be back in full swing by next weekend.

Hmm. Kinda ugly today. All three major indices down about 1% on average volume, advance/declines and up volume/down volume pretty gross. First day I can remember in a while with more new lows than new highs.

The disk drive index ($DDX) got hammered for nearly 5% (Sandisk (SNDK) the big loser there, down 27%) while the semis dropped more than 3%. Best news on the up side came from a slight rebound in oil services (well, airlines were up too, but BMB doesn’t see any need to continue to mention airlines. You shouldn’t own them anyway.). Crude oil finished the day right around $54.75 - pushing up on the $55 level.

This market is very shaky — at best. Watch your step.

NY Attorney General sues insurance companies.

AIG, MMC down big on the news.

Schaeffer’s take on the lackluster performance of the big pharmas.

The semiconductor stocks continue to flounder. PHLX Semiconductor Index ($SOX ) is down nearly 3% today, the day after disappointing reports from the likes of QLogic and Novellus.

QLogic (QLGC) is taking it on the chin — currently down over 7% to $27.87.

Novellus (NVLS) is faring even worse, dipping more than 9%.

BMB mentioned last week how the Basic Materials sector SPDR (XLB) had broken out of its trading range that had confined it for months. Um, never mind. The selloff in materials stocks has once again brought the XLB back into its cage.

This type of behavior has been all too typical in this market since the top in January. This market continues to confound those who try to guess where its going to go next. Keep a close eye on the stocks you own, and be careful should you decide to enter new positions.

Some of the early news: in earnings, GM misses, Abbott Labs meets, Citigroup beats. US jobless claims up, trade deficit up. Oil refinery fire in California.

Dow futures at 9980 pre-open. Apple at $43.25 in pre-market.

Update: Oh yeah. Yankees up 2 games to 0 on Red Sox. Cards up 1-0 on Astros.
Update 2: Added link to article on GM report.