by Barry Ritholz at The Big Picture blog:
After gyrating much of the day, the S&P500 bounced off the the 200-day moving average (which also coincided with the December 2010 close) just like a page out of a technical analysis textbook. The bounce helped rescue Apple from some very ugly price action, which pierced its 200-day moving average for the first time since September 2008, x/ the flash crash, trading down to $318.33 before recouping most of its loss with a strong close...
But the current environment is much more difficult to navigate, where a flock of macro swans — including European Debt, China hard landing, the QE2 endgame, Japan supply chain issues, global economic slowdown, natural disasters, and commodity price inflation – are batting the market around like a piñata. This, therefore, warrants more caution and greater risk mitigation.
