Prices fell again, the third loss in five days, continuing the difficulty of deciding whether the April high indicated the top of the expansion, or the present up-then-down changes signal a pause, or values will retreat. Further, today’s pattern of -1/+1/-2/+1 adds further uncertainty.
The diagram marks the previous 8 days with this pattern. Five of these happened at or near the top, while the other three clearly did not accompany rising prices. Moreover, prices continued to fall five times on the following day. Indeed, once the declines exceeded 5 percent.
DJIA – .72 percent
NASDAQ - 1.11 percent
S&P500 -.80 percent