by Rick Ackerman
RickAckerman.com
Even on days like Wednesday, when stocks seem to be merely marking time, the Dow tacked on another 373 points. This is particularly disconcerting with the U.S. sinking into Lockdown 2.0 and signs all around that the pandemic is not even remotely about to abate. Count me skeptical as far as pending news about an effective vaccine. If someone had told me when I was five years old and in the throes of a bad chest cold that there would be no symptomatic relief for this when I reached 70, I’d never have believed them. Many with herpes sores from the 1980s probably feel the same way. How could there not be a cure by now? Alas, viruses are tough little mothers.
Concerning the stock market, which is being driven by a combination of mass hysteria and Other People’s Money, the Dow Industrials are at a critical juncture, trading just a millimeter beneath the 27,238 target shown. It is a midpoint Hidden Pivot, and if buyers can pop the Indoos 30-40 points past it intraday, or close above it for two consecutive days, that would signal another leg up to at least 28436 (the pink line, a ‘secondary pivot), or to 29,633 if any higher. My bet is on the bulls, since madness of the kind we are witnessing these days does not shrink from the challenge of, technically speaking, gnawing through 10 feet of concrete.