Mid-week reading of interest on the markets (ChartsEdge map below)

The ChartsEdge daily map for 7/1 is posted below (in an earlier post, last night here). And, I posted a few minutes ago at my UBTNB3 blogspot (links at right) a view of oil showing that both WTIC and USO are at levels suggesting they may well roll over to much lower levels, but still remain poised at a crossroads, suggesting they could try to move to higher levels - so we have to wait for confirmation.

Meanwhile, a few other comments, and then some suggestions for reading on the markets. The McClellan Oscillator either remains, or is trying to remain above the zero line for NYSE and Nasdaq, although it did set back yesterday - not surprising given the action, plus it's conveniently a pullback from the downtrend resistance line I've been marking on the McClellan charts. There are some indicators looking better in equities markets, but they don't guarantee that these markets can do better than a corrective bounce before rolling down to deeper levels. The dollar looked better but still at a low level showing that it isn't quite ready to break out (and to many eyes probably looks like it's threatening to break yet lower again), so it still needs to be watched closely. Treasury bonds moved into a resistance level so although they are looking like they put in their low, they'll need to remain above support (recent swing low) on a pullback. Gold is threatening to just fall down out of its channel support. So, we'll just have to see whether the markets can continue to levitate for another couple of days.

I've recently posted some articles of interest at my UBTNB3 blogspot, so I don't want to repeat those here - you would have seen them already by looking at the "feed" indicating those, at right. These are some items I've found interesting across the blogsophere or web. But just don't take them as indicating where the markets necessarily go. They're just to remain informed of some of the interesting analysis and news out there:

Baltic Dry Index Stuck in a Holding Pattern (Bespoke Investment Group, 6/30/09) (includes a chart showing this).

Would You Buy This Stock? (Bespoke Investment Group, 6/30/09) - Depicts the declines in housing prices, and discusses new ETFs that track this. Personally, I'd be careful - this can be due for a bounce at some point, and just the fact that ETFs can be used to hedge the decline makes me think that a bounce may be getting closer. (Although I agree that housing price declines are far from being over, should take years to work out.)

FAS Is Now XLF (Bill Luby at VIX and More, 6/30/09) - analyzes how the drop in volatility has affected the 3x leveraged ETFs including FAS (and profited those who've been selling options). The FAS did not actually become XLF, it just doesn't have more volatility than XLF by now, as he shows with charts.

Gruma Says ‘Doubt’ Will Continue as Going Concern Bloomberg (6/30/09) - Sign of the times, as Mexico's largest maker of the products used for corn tortillas says it may go under, due to losses from currency derivatives that plunged in value after the peso lost 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

House Price Crash Rate Finally Beginning To Ease (Henry Blodget at ClusterStock (at BusinessInsider.com), 6/30/09) - reviews the declines and rate of declines in housing prices.

Americans Suckle On The Government’s Teat - Courtesy of Joe Weisenthal and Kamelia Angelova at ClusterStock (at BusinessInsider.com), Posted at Phil's Stock World June 30, 2009 - Shows the increase over the past two decides in the percentage of U.S. personal income that comes from government transfer payments (welfare, unemployment, etc.).

"An Even Worse Financial System Than the One With Which We Began" - Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism, 7/1/09.

AIG: Ready to Blow Up Again - Financial Ninja (6/30/09) - AIG is making additional disclosures in connection with a regulatory filing updating "risk factors" in its 2008 annual report. These involve valuation declines on derivatives (credit-default swaps) sold to European banks.

NYSE Halts Transparency, Feels Goldman Program Trading Disclosure Is Unnecessary; and The NYSE Responds to Zero Hedge (both by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge, 6/30/09) - Mentions the July 14 date that's interesting because it also lines up with the only remaining significant Bradley turning date before the late autumn.