Bears Close to Seizing Control of Wall Street

I love the market. I love the buzz, the news, the predictions, the action. But, there are a few times during the year when I wish the market would just close and we could pay attention to what really matters.

This week was one of them, and I don’t know about you, but the day after the Boston tragedy, I was hoping the market would take a day off.  I wasn’t in the mood to even look at stocks and I’ll bet many others weren’t, either.

But, the market stayed open, and it pretty much took it on the chin. And while just a few weeks ago I was bullish, now I’d say “less so.”

It’s not dire yet – we probably need another week like this week – but any further drop below that uptrend line and the bears will be in control.

One stock that’s always a good tell is IBM (NYSE:IBM). The stock got killed when its earnings came out and the situation is critical. Look out below if it drops much further because then it could see the mid $100s.

On a bright note, “Mom & Pop” stocks that pay a nice dividend are usually a good hiding place. I love (and own) Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), and it continues to perform well. A nice play to keep some of your assets.