Stocks continue win streak

The Dow Jones Industrials closed on Tuesday at its highest point since August 8, though it is still 210 points below that level and a full 552 off the all-time high. On the first day back from the Labor Day weekend, the message was clear: there's room on the upside as well as the downside.

The Dow closed positively for the second day in a row, though follow-through beyond that is questionable. The Dow has not put together 3 winning sessions since that August 8 date, when the index closed at 13,657.86, and that number would need to be exceeded to re-confirm the bull market. Failing that, we would be in the early stages of a confirmed bear market.

Those of us willing to go out on a limb would suggest that we've already begun the bear, instead of being caught in the clutches of a nasty "correction", which was, in fact, cut off at the 10% declination by the Fed and the PPT, or Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and the rest of that gang of thieving, conniving bankers and brokers.

While the Fed, the Treasury, the government, the big banks and brokerages, the financial press and that weird guy down the street with the funky hat don't want the general public to be alarmed that the stock market has turned bearish or that there's even a "correction", the matter seems somewhat already settled by scores of traders who are steering clients clear of US stocks and have been for the last three weeks.

Dow 13,448.86 +91.12; NASDAQ 2,630.24 +33.88; S&P 500 1,489.42 +15.43; NYSE Composite 9,698.68 +101.40

So, the sheeple investor is being led by the nose to a serious shearing, if not an outright, bloody slaughter. Those daring to dip a toe into the long side of the trade are willing to buy the absolute lie that the Fed and the banks can manage the destruction of trillions of dollars of investments without the US economy suffering so much as a hiccup. It's the blind faith of fools which is leading this market higher, without the benefit of any fundamental chart confirmation.

Buy if you like, but cooler heads are staying on vacation for the foreseeable future.

Volume on the markets today was better than it has been for most of the past three weeks, but hardly what anyone would call "heavy."

Substantial Wealth and Riches Creation
The Path of Substantial Wealth and Riches: Your Parents' Influence on Your Finances
substantialincomes.com

Advancing issues were better than decliners by about a 5-2 ratio, and new highs outdid new lows (for the second day in a row), 164-101, though that margin is hardly convincing.

The Dow actually punctured upside resistance late in the day on Tuesday, but quickly retreated 40 points into the close.

Oil was up another $1.04 to close at $75.08, while gold added $9.60 to $691.50 and silver was up 22 cents to close at $12.45.

The peculiarity of the commodity surge is that it should not occur in a vacuum as this current manifestation is. The correlation between stocks, oil and metals is as broken as the credit markets. Albeit, life goes on, until, at least, the next calamity.

Keep an eagle eye on Dow 13,657. If that number is not exceeded, more downside can be expected in short order. Getting beyond that will take a herculean effort, or, failing that, extreme measures of manipulation by covert insiders.