Investors were nervous today by the prospect of a hurricane to close out the month. That sent energy prices higher and forced end-of-month tape painters to slowdown long enough to tape their windows while still managing a “stick save” into the close.

And, it doesn’t take much to push prices around with volume and stock supportive news light.

That’s enough for a slow day. The end of August looms and volume grows light with Labor Day weekend ahead. Traders have one more shot at a long summer weekend and many are already gone. They’ve left a few low-ranking sentries on duty to protect their positions. You could readily see how easy it was to push indexes one way or another without too much effort given the volume.

Gustav looms as a potentially serious problem.

Have a pleasant evening.

Disclaimer: Among other issues the ETF Digest maintains long or short positions in: IWM, UWM, QQQQ, QLD, XLY, XLV, RXL, XLP, UGE, IEF, TLT, UUP, FXE, DRR, GLD, DZZ, DBC, DEE, USO, UNG, EFA, EFU, EEM, EFU and FXI.

Last 5 posts by David Fry

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