With that positively garish introduction, I must now add a pinch of the customary humility: yes, I regret this latest of my absences from the blog; yes, I shall not leave my dear lambs any more; no, I do not intend to disappear again in a fortnight or two. I live to serve my readers. Right.
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In brief, my non-trading life -- which would, naturally, be comprised in large part by my alter ego of rather excessive travelling -- enjoyed some highly notable moments during my absence from regular posting, i.e. the two-month period since about mid-November. I enjoyed hops to the exotic locales of Traverse City (MI) and Madison, obligatory multiple visits to West Coast mileage run destinations of San Francisco and Seattle, and most significantly, a roaring and powder-dumping skiing jaunt to the northern Lake Tahoe area. Below, looking beautiful, is a specimen of the oft-maligned CRJ species, on an idyllic late-November afternoon on the Chicago O'Hare tarmac:

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Finally, markets! Yes, this blog's true raison d'etre. Friday's trade proved more tumultuous than any in this still-young year, with indices declining to significant support levels that, if broken in follow-up trade of early next week, would provide fertile grounds for an intensified sell-off (a.k.a. the correction forecast by every talking-head analyst and his grandmother). To add some objectivity to the just-spewed blabber, the S&P500 ended Friday's market action with a 1.1% decline (-12 points) to 1136, while the DJIA declined 0.9% and the NASDAQ erased 1.2%. The S&P500's intra-day registered a trading range between 1148 and 1131. Here's a 10-day chart of the broad-based benchmark, courtesy of bigcharts.com:

My own trade of Friday was not altogether laudable, as the sharpness of the morning pull-back took me by surprise. I entered the session long in X (that's US Steel) calls, which defied a bullish chart by savagely selling-off in the opening minutes, though recovering considerably later. Materials stocks, such as US Steel, alongside financials have been the market leaders since the Christmas holiday while the previous baton-carrier, technology, has been a relative underperformer. It shall be interesting to see whether Friday's unnerving pull-back shall henceforth disrupt this market dynamic of risk-trade leadership. I wrap-up with a quick artistic musing on the essence of '10dX':

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