Many serious market analyst are still saying the market is not safe and is 3 to 5 years out until a profit can be realized. Well guess what, when things turned bad most were not forecasting a cessation of the major up trends we experienced in 2005~2007. My take is a big bottom could be in or a big decline could be ahead. Nothing for the next six months will be plain and ordinary. We could see another oversold bounce based on today's action that is quite possible. Today we saw a late rally after some speculation that a hedge fund "liquidation process" could be over. My guess is that firms keep liquidating, we see a dollar snap back after the quick gains, oil starts going back up, and more banks come under suspicion of failing. Or perhaps the contrary, no one knows. That is what makes these issues so interesting. Only the hard core players can figure out these anomalies and trade them. Today we saw gains in agriculture, most the names in the MOO went up. Most names in the KOL are up. The XLB didn't do much except for Monsanto. The biggest news is still Lehman Bros trying to find a buyer, down 43% today. China Steel exports up big, look at the cheap china steel play creeping back on the scene. RIMM has a new blackberry but no thanks I already have a phone and the cell phone company want to charge me a few hundred bucks to switch. That money was spent on gas. No wonder thier stock is down 17% in 3 months. OK, yes, I admit that does look like a bottom in RIMM.
RIO is stuck in the mud as commodities in general are out of favor. Ike is churning the gulf but as we learned before this is a storm not a stock and should not be traded.