Wednesday, May 31, 2006

This was the worst May in six years. The decline took no prisoners. A feeble rally today stopped the bleeding temporarily. The end of the month and the beginning of a new month are usually positive for stock prices because of the auto deduct-inflow into the mutual funds. After this money is used, we need to test the lows of last Wednesday which are 11,000 for the Dow;1245 for the S&P 500; and 1554 for the Nasdaq 100. The possible catalyst for the resumed downward test might come on Friday as the Government releases the Employment statistics for May. If the market is able to hold above these benchmarks, then a sustained rally can take place. If the market takes out these lows on a closing basis, then this correction is not over and we will be in for a difficult second half of 2006.