Investors set the direction, traders run the distance

Today, for the obvious reasons, bulls are on offense, and bears are on defense, and now it’s up to traders to test the firing range of bulls and bears.

Dow opened at yesterday’s session high of about 12260, shooting up as far as 12300, just 50 points below all time intra-day high of 12350 since Feb 27, 2007. I think that’s a kind of overshooting by traders from bull’s camp. 12300 should be very close to today’s session high, if it has not been reached yet.

Tomorrow’s payroll number is still important, and it actually may be a make or break day for both bulls and bears. That said, bulls may be prudent enough not running too far above 12300.

Where is today’s session low? That would be up to the traders from bears camp. I have not seen much firing from that direction yet.

Traders from bears camp are just as competent as their comrades from the other camp. They would try at least to push Dow back to its opening of about 12260, if not trying to close today’s opening gap. Can they do the job today? We will see.

I closed my longs and shorts for now.

The following quotes are from marketreflections.com:

Fundamental analysis: it is not about what and how you think, it is all about what and how market thinks.

Technical analysis: In short term, there are no fundamentals; in long term, we are all going to die.