The Ruskies are back tinkering with the EU's energy supply again. Last year, I thought it would effect the market, but it didn't. In fact, if it had not been for the Livedoor incident, the I-fund would have probably significantly outperformed the S-fund for the first half of the year as well. However, I am not going to dismiss this latest exchange. It's another brick in the wall building between energy exporting and energy importing regions. Someday this situation is going to become intolerable to the EU and more importantly Germany - these are dangerous games Belarus and Ukraine are playing - at some point sides are going to get picked - but not today.
I'm finding myself in the same position as October and November, having just sold at a low and looking at a potential bounce. As Pointman 72 can attest too, having held through the whole ordeal of the last six months was definitely the way to go. Question of the year - is it the way forward? My Philosphy for this year was based on a Yes to that question.
My goal is to nail the critical points and not get caught up in the onsies/twosies of the day to day, other then to adjust which stocks I was in. I didn't move to the G last Thursday because of this more long term approach and for better or worse, I intend to see this experiment through to the bitter or better end. With that philosophy in mind, I decided last Friday was a critical point. Now I am asking myself, how much flexibility do I allow before I except that it was not a critical point. The catch is, if I only give it a day or two, I might as well go right back to the process I was using last year.
It's a bit disconcerting, especially because I'm here for the exact same reason. Over the last 6 months, the channel of the S&P 500 has been a series of wedges, with the closing of each wedge, a slight deviation and shallowing of the slope has occurred. What is unique about this most recent low, is that it has now broken below the channel set by the lows in September and November. That is what ultimately swayed me into calling it a critical point. Even if it looks good today, I am not going to move back in because of the strategy. According to the broader picture approach, a couple of days one way or the other are not going to make a serious difference. If I wasn't following this strategy I would probably jump in if I see the S&P break away from the 1410 line.