The withdrawal of Larry Summers from consideration as Fed Chairman gave large cap stocks a boost on Monday. This was followed by a strong rally on Wednesday following the decision by the FOMC to maintain the
QE program into the foreseeable future. Optimism quickly soured on Friday, however, as the prospect of a Government shutdown and debt default became more real. Our trend indicators are pointing up, but we can expect a bumpy ride until the end of the month as the government funding bills work their way through congress.



The number of breakouts increased sharply as prices and volumes rose. SSTK (Shutterstock) defied the market's overall trend on Friday with a 13.7% gain from a CwH pattern and ISIS Pharmaceuticals jumped over 15% on Thursday, also from a CwH base.

No new features this week.

Suspend  Investing Until The End of the Month

Although,  at the time of writing, it seems likely that the debt ceiling will be raised one way or another, the uncertainty that will prevail in the next few days is likely to give the markets conniptions, as we saw on Friiday. I suggest, therefore, that you hold off on opening new positions with the intention of going long for a few days, This is likely to be a period where only the agile trader can turn a profit.