T1B

Lots of ugliness in the markets due to the subprime mess, lots of good stocks getting hammered.
That said, in the big picture, the most important index of all, the S&P 500 says we're still in a bull market:



This chart has 2 major trendlines to watch - the first started in April of 2005 and remains in tact (and provides a good cushion) all the way down to 1337
The accelerated trendline began in July '06 and remains in tact as well - though it was tested in November.

Good stuff Scott. I didnt feel too bullish after my stocks took a beating the first three weeks of November,but things seem to be recovering into a good yearend rally. Mortgage crisis,Mortgage Crisis blah blah blah. Getting sick of hearing about it.

Sometimes its good to look at the longterm trends to remind us where we are.

Yes - On the main stock board I frequent, the Bears are running amuck right now.
Anytime you get sentiment to strongly one way, things seem to go the other.

As a reformed Bear - I know the big picture is the thing to watch.

Although I do wish I had kept some of those shorts on the Homebuilders, and the Mortgage lenders :(

Here's a great breakdown from Bryan Shannon on how the S&P 500 performed this year.
For 2007 the SPX was up a total of only 4% - however, if you traded the trends long and short you could have made far more:



The indexes are the easiest to trade following basic Technical analysis. Reason being of course they are too large to be easily manipulated.

The tough thing, of course, is having the time to actively watch and trade in and out.