how do you see the dow index going today Dow Jones and S&P commentary: Signal Watch Dr Bob Hard Right Edge Raptor Research Charting by Snoball: Dow Chart S&P Chart Drinks & Break Time at: GD's Famous Tea Room & Watering Hole"

DOW JONES @ LIVECHARTS

Look who is their president! I think you may be thinking with too much logic, which they don't seem to be in the US.

range tradig will definitley be the way i think. it is hitting a resisitance and cant see much more upside for a while. markets need to settle down for a bit.

Unbelievable. Back to where I bought my long.
The Feds want this up and they are going to keep it up.
I've a bloody good mind to trade long without stops altogether from now on.

I've set my stops about 20 below - I've upped them for the 6th time, DJ taking FTSE with it! (Long FTSE & DJ)!

ftse follows dj closer than any other market. i would suggest about 100-150 for stops and ofcourse it is up to you for limits.

I use the low for the previous day for stops on the Dow. This is why I like to get in on down days.
I don't know if anyone is using TA type indicators but I have been experimenting with the momentum set to two days. In the current trend buy when the indicator drops below zero - like yesterday. It looks quite promising.

As for the ftse - it's a complete mystery to me.

Will the Dow stay above 10600?

Seems to be stuck between 10610/20

I'm looking at the S@P for direction.

It's kissed 1050 which is major resistance. I wouldn't
consider any new longs at this point.

Getting the feeling that this is the last pop before a retracement.

Looking for a pop and drop on the FTSE tomorrow if things remain
the same as they are at the moment. Depends on when the DOW starts
to retrace, this evening or tomorrow afternoon.

Going to look for FTSE index shorts, these levels are too rich
for me without some kind of pullback.

Melnibone.

Every time i think its gone too far for a long it goes further.
Every time i short it takes money off me. (except yesterday)

There should be a fall back after today so I will wait till the morning.
The hell with it - long the feb future.

I think I'm going to close my long DJ soon.

I finally closed my Long. Turned it into a really little short, so it has to go up a long way before I lose todays gains!. If it drops, then great it'll just add a bit extra!

Great to hear you're making money on the longs, snoball.

Unless your timing is perfect, I would expect the market
to take money off you, as you say, when you short.
You are going counter-trend when you short a rising
market and increase the odds against you.

You may be very well correct that the market is going higher,
but it's got to stop at some point and reverse trend, and
1050 S@P is one of the heavy resistance points that could
provide the catalyst.

I wouldn't want a fresh long until it had broken this
resistance and retested it as support.

Anyway, just a view, best you carry on making money your
way, you seem to be doing OK. :-)

Melnibone.

DJ Dow Jones News Highlights Top Stories Of The Day

TOP STORIES

STOCKS REBOUND; TECHS' OUTLOOK KEEPS LID ON NASDAQ

Dow recovers early losses, hitting new long-term bull market high, while Nasdaq recoups ground from much weaker levels but has trouble swallowing platefuls of negative news from chip and telecom firms. Lucent loses 5%. Among other decliners: Seagate, RF Micro and Advanced Micro.

LUCENT FALLS DESPITE POSTING PROFIT
Shares drop 5% as traders lock in gains after company posts profit for second straight quarter and says it expects profitable fiscal year. CEO says telecom industry is stabilizing, but revenue for year expected to remain stable or edge higher.

JP MORGAN TOPS VIEWS; SHARES RISE
Reiterates its planned purchase was not done for quick earnings fix, but to produce more balanced, steady earnings stream over long term. Posts 4Q profit of $1.86 million, or 89c a share, handily topping analysts' views. Shares up 2%.

INTEL DOUBLES CASH DIVIDEND
Board of directors approve a 100% increase in its quarterly cash dividend, to 4c from 2c, payable on company&aposs common stock beginning with 1Q of 2004.

MERRILL 4Q NET MORE THAN DOUBLES
Profit handily beats expectations and allows Merrill to cruise to record earnings of nearly $4 billion for year. Shares recover after initial disappointment with revenue, which rises 17% on year, but slips from 3Q and misses forecasts.

SEAGATE MISS PULLS RIVALS LOWER
Seagate plunges 23% after its earnings fall well short of expectations and drags rival disk-drive makers downward as well. Company cites a drop in the number of disk drives used in consumer electronics gadgets and aggressive pricing.

US HOUSING STARTS POST SURPRISE RISE
Home construction in December climbs 1.7% to 2.088 million annual rate, its highest level in nearly 20 years. Economists expected 5.8% decline, but Dow Jones Newswires technical analyst Stephen Cox predicted they would rise and test 2.10 million level.

HOMEBUILDERS RALLY ON EARNINGS NEWS
Shares rally following surprisingly good economic news and better-than-expected earnings results, both suggesting that the housing sector may not be entering a slump after all. Hovnanian jumps 8% and Centex gains 6%.

EX-TYCO EXEC UNAWARE OF KOZLOWSKI BONUS
Brad McGee, Tyco&aposs former head of investor relations, testifies investors weren&apost aware of special bonuses paid to Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Schwartz.

MASSACHUSETTS REGULATOR CHARGES CANTELLA
Massachusetts regulators charge Boston money management firm with failure to supervise two agents who sold unregistered hedge funds "to unsophisticated investors, costing some of them their entire retirement savings."

SECURITY OF WEB VOTING QUESTIONED
Experimental Internet-based voting system slated to be used by overseas voters has security problems and should be scrapped, security experts say. System is being installed by Accenture under contract with Defense Department.

SUITS FILED AGAINST MUSIC DOWNLOADERS
Recording industry sues 532 computer users it says were illegally distributing songs over the Internet, the first lawsuits since federal appeals court blocked use of special copyright subpoenas to identify those being targeted.

RF MICRO TUMBLES ON 4Q OUTLOOK
Shares fall 19% as company warns declining demand for products based on TDMA wireless network would result in quarterly profit well below Wall Street expectations. Company now sees 4Q profits between 2c and 4c a share.

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS REJECT UNITED CONTRACT
Contract asks retirees to pay for more of their health benefits, a move the airline has said it needs to make to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

GLOBAL CROSSING TO HIT NASDAQ TOMORROW
Company that once had value of $48 billion on NYSE, emerged from bankruptcy on Dec. 9, completing process through which it shed about $11 billion in debt and agreed to sell majority stake to Singapore Technologies.

TANZI FAMILY RESIGNS ALL PARMALAT POSTS
Parmalat says members of insolvent dairy group&aposs controlling family have resigned from all their board positions at company and its units. Separately, Parmalat&aposs Cayman affiliates seek creditor protection in U.S.

AMR NARROWS LOSS ON COST CUTS
American Air parent posts net loss of $111 million, or 70c a share, in 4Q, sharply narrowing year-earlier $529 million loss. Biggest improvement comes on cost side as labor costs fall 22.3% and overall operating costs decline 5.8%.

CITIGROUP TO SELL $434M INFINEON STAKE
Citigroup is placing 30 million shares in German chip maker Infineon Technologies on the market for EUR11.5 a share for total of EUR345 million euros, or $434 million, according to a source close to the matter.

BANK OF NY TRIPLES NET; SHARES SLIP
Profit more than triples in 4Q on better income from fee-generating operations. Bank earns $307 million; excluding items, earnings of 44c a share meet Wall Street&aposs expectations. Shares off slightly.


======= DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES =======

BIG PICTURE
Housing Can&apost Stay So Strong, They Say Again
Economists keep saying strength in homebuilding can&apost last, but month after month construction data depict a sector going from strength to new strength.

TIP SHEET
Powershares Offers Light Managed ETFs
Powershares Capital Management offers exchange traded funds based on quantitative analysis, using data on past performance to predict future market trends.

============ U.S. MARKETS ACTION ===========
DJIA up 93.56 points to 10621.25
NASDAQ down 9.23 points to 2138.75
S&P 500 up 8.20 points to 1146.97
10-year T-note up 9/32 at 101 28/32 yield 4.018
NYMEX Spot Crude down $0.29 at $34.58/bbl at close
Dollar/Euro up 0.0049 at 1.2628

Melnibone, the point is that I have to follow my plan and stay on the right side of the market. If I don't follow the plan and the market goes the way of the plan then I feel like a right prat.
Yesterday I discovered I had coded some exit signals incorrectly and went short before I realised. Not to worry it's sorted now.

Hi snoball,

Sorry if I caused you any offense. None was intended.

Just trying to chat and exchange views. Perhaps my wording
was clumsy? Of course you must follow your own plan, that's
the only way to do it.
If you don't, you might as well just give it to a fund manager
and see how much he/she underperforms the Indices with it. ;-)

Melnibone.

Melnibone, no offence was inferred nor taken my friend. Your views and comment are most welcome. I'm sorry if my response appeared prickly. It most certainly wasn't intended to. This communicating by the written word can be tricky sometimes. I was merely pointing out that my 'system' indicates that the market is long and any attempt at shorting the market is foolhardy until some real indication of a turn has occurred. e.g. a drop in price that breaches a 20 day low.
I am constantly amazed at how people manage to trade shorts in this market. It shows much more skill than I have. I would think it requires a lot of concentration and time at the screen. More that I am willing to expend.
Good trading.
;-)

Thanks snoball. ;-)

Melnibone.

snoball - i am long the dow but do daily shorts as well. you are quite right, i think as the trend is up and you want to go short then you have to have a lot of time in front of the screen. i spend the working day in front of my pc so i get to see intraday movements and subsequently go short when need be.