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Good Morning, Traders. With yesterday's inside day, we should assume that the sellers are in firm control and from the looks of things, today should be an optimal day to put up some plays in the short column. Seeing the market close bearish and close to the prior day's gap down into the last 15 minutes of trade is a solid signal to us that the sellers are not finished. The '02-'03 Dow lows (see recent <i>ShadowTrader Video Weeklies</i>) should be our next stop.
With a bearish tone in mind, we look for where there seems to be divergence internally in stocks the same way that there is divergence in the markets (again, see recent <i>ShadowTrader Video Weeklies</i>.) When we say divergence in stocks, we mean anything like volume or <a href="http://www.shadowtrader.net/glossary.html">On Balance Volume</a> (you down with OBV? yeah, you know me!) that is moving sideways or down while price is moving up. Some nice examples in a wide range of sectors are below.
<img border=5 width=560 height=650 src="http://www.shadowtrader.net/focus_report_charts2008/081028AEE.gif">
First contestant is in the utility space. Our scans came up with a lot of utility shorts which tells us that the sector is probably under pressure here regardless of a rate cut coming or not. <b>AEE</b> has the classic bear flag pennant on and the negative OBV divergence. This happens as price goes sideways to up but the OBV bumps along near the lows. Check out <b>IDU or XLU</b> for a play on the whole sector. Almost every chart in this group looks like this.
<img border=5 width=560 height=650 src="http://www.shadowtrader.net/focus_report_charts2008/081028GENZ.gif">
This one is biotech. The divergence is very prominent here as the increases in volume on the days the stock made red candles inside of the bear flag are causing the on balance volume to tank. Note how the stock is nowhere near the swing lows in the $60 area, yet the OBV is making new lows. Negative divergence.
<img border=5 width=560 height=650 src="http://www.shadowtrader.net/focus_report_charts2008/081028CVX.gif">
How much lower can oil go? Will oil stocks make another leg lower? The chart of <b>CVX</b> above indicates yes. Same situation like <b>GENZ</b> with an inverted hammer on the daily. Any move below yesterday's low would snap the trendline and take Chevron on an all expense paid trip back to swing lows.