Stocks pre retail sales

This market is like hamburger hill... thus the reason for hanging it up this time of year. I am still playing lightly, but I am losing bias in either direction for the short term. It could come out of this range in either way... but we have come down to a point I would guess. Tomorrow is Friday, and with retail sales to boot.I will safely bet on.... movement!

Albert Edwards made some comments to Barron's as to history and a longer term view:

Albert Edwards, Societe Generale's world-class global strategist, points to the scarcity of bears among the newsletter writers tracked by Investors Intelligence, which last week fell to the lowest level since the stock market peaked in 2007.


"The likelihood is that the next leg of the long-term structural bear market is closer than people realize," he writes in a note to clients.


While Edwards has steadfastly pointed to Japan and its stock and bond markets as the examples the West should study for long-term patterns, he similarly argues that investors could have participated in cyclical rallies of 40%-50% in Tokyo -- even though the Nikkei stands some 75% below its 1989 peak.


The key, he explains, has been to exit the Tokyo stock market when leading indicators for the Japanese economy show signs of topping out. That's usually just about the time analysts start to argue that the economy, at long last, is about to embark on a sustained expansion. Which has yet to happen.