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.

BP is shutting down “half the oil production on Alaska’s North Slope” due to corrosion in a transit line:

Once the field is shut down, in a process expected to take days, BP said oil production will be reduced by 400,000 barrels a day. That’s close to 8 percent of U.S. oil production as of May 2006 or about 2.6 percent of U.S. supply including imports, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Those looking for lower oil prices will have to wait a little longer…

It’s been six months since the Super Bowl. Tonight, the first NFL preseason game (Raiders and Eagles) marks the beginning of another football season.

I am quite pleased.

The latest issue of the ChartWatchers newsletter from StockCharts.com is available. This week there is a look at bond yields, a potential bullish outlook, and commentary on the latest move down in the QQQQs.

Items of note on the latest industry moves:

• HMOs have been just all over the map lately, but going nowhere. Worst group last week, best group this week. And they’re in the same spot they were back in mid-April.
• A good bounce in the housing/homebuilding stocks the last week or too. You buy ‘em if you want. None for me, thanks.
• Interest rate sensitive stocks - banks, REITS and utilities - are holding up well along with the natural gas and oil stocks and telecoms. The drug stocks have moved sideways after their big run a couple of weeks ago.
• Some groups are looking look like they might try to move higher like the brokers and the gold & silver stocks - and possibly the hospitals and software groups coming off their lows.
• Oil services still not looking anywhere near as strong as the natural gas and oil groups. The energy divergence remains.
• For a more detailed breakdown of group movement over various time periods, try Prophet.net’s Industry Rankings page.