Simple as ABC?

1:17 am (Hawaii) I like my little charts and trendlines and megaphone and pennant patterns. I like candlesticks too, however reliable (or not) they may be. But it's fun now and then to visit American Bulls for their view of stocks. Here's what they say through their candlestick analysis as of Wed Oct 19:

AAPL - Sell confirmed
AGQ - Sell confirmed
DGP - Sell confirmed
SPY - Sell-if...
QQQ - Sell-if...
QID - Buy confirmed
FCX - Wait
EUO - Buy confirmed

Isn't this interesting? All the indicators (at least in my book) of a bullish short-term view are negative, from AAPL to precious metals to bear indice ETFs. So how about financials?

FAS - Buy-if...
FAZ - Buy-if...

So that confirms the confusion and hesitancy of not just me, but of plenty of traders and investors regarding the banks. No surprise that the bank stocks remain choppy, range-bound and largely untouched lately. Or is that really the case?

BAC - Buy-if...
AIG - Sell-if...
C - Sell-if...
GS - Sell-if...
JPM - Buy-if...
MS -  Sell-if...

Less positive than I expected. I don't like the banksters, but even this is more bearish than I would've guessed just by the way they've held up through the past week with JPM and GS announcing far less stellar earnings than expected.

NBG - Wait
IRE - Wait
DB - Buy-if...

There are more Eurozone banks but that's enough. As I fall asleep for the night (and premarket opens in 30 minutes), I'm content to stay the heck out for today. The most bullish thing that could happen is Merkel and Sarkozy release the details of their grand plan to save the European monetary system. That would take the US market and precious metals higher since printing all that fiat money will be nothing but a short-term fix. Then the junkie becomes more dependent on the juice (fiat printing).

Riders of the Storm

What a good storm it is. The banks keep rumbling forward, scarcely a moment to breathe. No horse, no runner can keep moving without rest at this pace. Not without artificial means. Of course, the steroids in this market are provided by good ol' Uncle Sam. Today's move by the Fed at the FOMC meeting jolted a stagnant session and even assured the most skeptical of a continued rally.

AIG, the most hated corporation in America, was already up from 96¢ to the 1.25 range before the FOMC news injected the market. AIG's head testified in DC in the afternoon, but the stock didn't tumble once. How to explain something like this?

Watching the stock throughout the day -- a 43% gain, not to mention another 13% in after-hours trading (to 1.56) -- was an absolute spectacle. Maybe watching someone defy the laws of gravity (Dwight Howard, Nate Robinson) comes close in terms of fascination. But the FOMC decision, which basically ensures (again) that all the sins of the financials will likely be absolved (and paid back, theoretically), gives AIG the kind of Big Brother protection that other financials are enjoying.

Citigroup got pumped up again today (up 22%), along with the rest of the sector. I feel somewhat comfortable with C. Even with the pre-FOMC risk, I walked in realizing that there could still be skeletons out there ... but probably not. Especially after the White House hired a Citigroup official recently.

Wells Fargo (Buffett) took another big leap today. It's hard to ignore Bank of America. Goldman Sachs. Yet, using play money, AIG is still on my radar. I can't fathom going in at this after-hours level, but watching it in the early morning might be worth a few buccos.