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Jul 21, 2008 - Issue #120

Dark Knight!

CNBC, perhaps, could pursuade the caped crusader, or a reasonable facimile thereof, (millionaire Bruce Wayne???) to come to our rescue in our dire moment of need with some prudent just-in-time financial wisdom.

Perhaps the market's bounce this past week was in anticipation of what turned out to be the biggest box office bonanza in history.

Which begs the question: Is this a playable bounce? Going long SPY and DIA or writing the front month Puts to take advantage of the high volatility? MRK has just put in a 'pennant' formation that looks like a coiled spring ready to uncoil. Will the move be a continuation of the down trend or a reversal to the upside? The stock hasn't seen these prices since '06.

Dow score card for the week ending 7/18/08.

DJ-30: 11496.57 +396.03 +3.57%. The Real World (arithmetical) DJ-30: 47.07 +1.63 +3.58%.

UP: 25, Down: 5.

Trends (weekly charts): This is the subjective part.

Rising (Generally Higher Highs/Higher Lows) 6 (+4) 20%:

+*C, +*IBM, JNJ, +*JPM, +*MCD, +*PG.

Consolidating (Generally Lower Highs/Higher Lows) 20 (+9) 67%:

AA, +*AIG, +*AXP, +*BA, +*BAC, +*CAT, +*DD, +*DIS, GE, +*GM, +*HD, +*HPQ, +*INTC, MMM, MRK, +*MSFT, -*PFE, UTX, VZ, WMT.

Declining (Generally Lower Highs/Lower Lows) 4 (-13) 13%:

CVX, KO, -*T, XOM.

+/- denotes change of direction.

* denotes change of category.