Dow Ends Absurd Tuesday Streak; Stocks Breaking Down

The Dow Jones Industrials ended a string of 20 consecutive gains on Tuesday, with a blood-red beating on this day. The streak of ending positive for 20 consecutive Tuesdays was probably due - more than anything else - to POMO dates, but the concept is that the market is becoming like fantasy baseball, where stats on every conceivable construct are trotted out, such as a player's propensity to steal a base during a day game with his team ahead after three straight wins against a left-handed pitcher with a non-Latino playing right field.

That comparison may be a touch on the deep side, but the pint is that market statistics are useless in the past unless they offer some meaningful insight into the future and Tuesday gains do not pass the smell test.

There is nothing good about this market. Now would - in some people's opinions - be a good time to go short or go to cash.

Of course, since many readers of this blog are already in cash, that would mean going short is at an optimal point.

If one would like the comfort of shorting an entire index, the S&P is a good bet, for individual stocks, there are many from which to choose, but the most enticing are social media companies with extreme valuations, such as Facebook. Zynga was a disaster waiting to happen, and it did, though its low share price (threes and change) seriously precluded any dowside participation. Yahoo (YHOO) also appears ripe for a substantial revaluation to the downside. Industrials also seem to be at risk, but the market has yet to price in any effects of a global slowdown.

At the bottom of everything is currencies, and they remain the key element in the ongoing destruction of all fiat currency not backed by tangible assets. There is a severe collateral crisis combined with grand theft at the pinnacle of government worldwide, a now-vicious devaluation regime and capital velocity fast approaching zero.

Blackrock and Nuveen funds were prominent among new 52-week lows.

Any kind of growth reported by any government anywhere has to be suspect and viewed with a maximum of skepticism.

Despite cutting lossed roughly in half by the close, there was nothing to like about the overall action in equity markets. What began as a bit of slippage a few weeks ago is quickly turning into a correction, most of which will be predicated upon the numbers released by ADT (tomorrow) and the BLS non-farm payroll report, Friday.

15,000 on the Dow and 1600 on the S&P are major psychological levels which should not be overlooked.

Dow 15,177.54, -76.49 (0.50%)
NASDAQ 3,445.26, -20.11 (0.58%)
S&P 500 1,631.38, -9.04 (0.55%)
NYSE Compos 9,320.08, -37.01 (0.40%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,767,142,375
NYSE Volume 4,025,642,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2263-4193
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 228-145
WTI crude oil: 93.31 -0.14
Gold: 1,397.20, -14.70
Silver: 22.41, -0.312