Pre-market Look at the S&P 500 index

Negative news out of the Euro zone regarding ongoing talks held over the weekend on Greek sovereign debt problems has weighed on pre-market futures.  Pre-market indicators point to a weak opening for U.S. indices with the S&P 500 currently -12 points at the 1304 level. 

As the chart below points out, Thursday of last week was the first distribution day since the recent market low on December 19 of last year.  The market has traded in a tight, uptrending parallel channel for 6 weeks without displaying hardly any signs of weakness.  Should today's weakness be sustained throughout the day it will be interesting to see how the market reacts.  

Will we see 1 day of weakness and then bounce right back inside the channel, or will the selling last for several days?  The first area of interest for me is in the 1260 to 1280 area, with my focus on 1268.

Click on the chart to enlarge view:

Sub $10 Setups for Monday, January 30, 2012

The shippers, select names from oil and coal, and alternative energy groups (solar, uranium, etc.) continue to stand out in my screens.  Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW) shown below has many of the alternative energy names in their holdings.  

Also, check the long list of tickers posted on the blog back on Thursday of last week.  Some of them are still in viable setups; PWAV, ACW, SIGA, and others.


Special note: For those of you who like to play in this low priced arena, especially the stocks under $1.  Expect your favorite pet to run away this week, your home to be foreclosed in the next 30 days, and you'll likely lose all your money.  Don't venture here unless you understand and know how to handle the risks involved.


Here's a list of stocks trading at least 200K shares/day and priced under $10.  They're not listed in any particular order.  ALWAYS use stops to avoid big losses.

Click on charts to enlarge the view: