Trading range before 2010 - good sentiment and technical analysis readers should review this weekend before 12/21

Well folks, it would be great fun to spin tales about an imminent market crash - there's something about the human psyche that enjoys a good scary story. But if you enjoy making money more than losing money, then make a disconnect between your trading and your enjoyment reading! For some good reading to help you make trading profits, take a look at these:

For a look at current indicators and thought for the upcoming week, check out Mike Burk 's Technical Market Report | Safe Haven. It's a good technical look at the equities trading range we're in right now.

Trend (directional) trading doesn't look promising right now ... It's daytrading, scalping, very short-term (overnight) swings, as well equities (index) options premium selling, that should do well for the immediate future Schaeffer's Monday Morning Outlook: Traders Sit Tight as Holiday Approaches. It's good analysis by Todd Salamone and Rocky White, you'll enjoy reading. Here's their intro section:

Can you say trading range? The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was rejected once again by overhead resistance in the 10,500 region, only to find support at 10,300 by the end of the week. Despite a brief trip above the upper rail of this range on Monday and flurry of excitement for the bears on Wednesday and Thursday, the Dow was largely comatose last week. Looking ahead, Todd Salamone, Senior Vice President of Research, notes that index option premium sellers have enjoyed the recent flat environment, and he thinks there may more of the same to come. Next, Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White gets in the holiday spirit by taking a closer look at trading activity during the weeks of Christmas and New Year's. According to Rocky's data, you may want to break out the (bull)horns (not reindeer) and party like it's 2010. Finally, we wrap up with a look at some key economic and earnings reports slated for release this week.

Terry Laundry gives his views on gold and bonds, as well as his equities market update, today at his T Theory Observations at http://www.ttheory.com/. Here's what he's looking at this weekend:

Update for Sunday December 20 2009. Todays discussion looks at a Gold fund, amshar's Best Bond Strategy and the S&P vs ADLine Divergence. See the charts below with their Audio Comments.

The bullish advance/decline divergence he's pointing out should help support the idea of moving higher into January, even if it doesn't point to the specific path from here to there (i.e., when equities move up from the trading range). Readers should remember that Terry has been pointing to a 2010 date for the rally to top, for a long time now. Mainly pointing to August 2010, but recently mentioning May at least for an interim crest.

For a somewhat bigger-picture view, read Tim Wood's A Brief Market Update | Safe Haven. Here's a quote from his intro:

In the first chart below I have included the Dow Jones Industrials and the Transports. From a Dow theory perspective there are no non-confirmations and all appears fine. It is the longer-term aspects of Dow theory, which are not shown on this chart, that are problematic. Those problematic issues being the traditional bull and bear market relationships and values, both of which I have written about in recent postings here.

This week Tim includes a look at many of his oscillators and technical indicator charts, and what they're saying about market internals - check it out.