Thursday, January 4, 2007

Yesterday's Wild Ride

Wow -- what a trading day. Here's a daily chart of the QQQQs, followed by a daily chart of the SPYs.

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They both say the same thing. They opened higher, added a few ticks a little after 10AM EST, cruised for a bit, sold off a touch and then....the FOMC minutes came out and wham. The inflation statement -- which came out at 2 EST -- was a clear selling catalyst for both markets.

These are 5-minute bar charts and the inflation paragraph in the FOMC statement is near the end -- about 10-minutes into the statement. There has been some speculation about when and if the Fed will lower rates. However, the Fed's statement was pretty clear -- inflation is still on their radar screen so rates aren't coming down for a bit. Not what the markets wanted to hear.

Going forward you have to wonder if this statement will provide a psychological trading ceiling on the market.