Black Friday: Bears Have The Ball After New COVID Variant
The emergence of a new strain of COVID (B.1.1.529) caught markets by surprise Friday and will be the focus in the days to come. Friday’s nasty selloff has also given the ball back to the bears. We’ll see if they can run with it.
NYSE + NASDAQ Advancers to Decliners was an ugly 1,379 / 6,472 in Friday’s half session. Only 17% of stocks (1 in 6) advanced on the day. NYSE + NASDAQ volume was notably high for a half day at 7 billion shares traded – down only 8% from Wednesday’s full trading day.
Many traders were on Thanksgiving vacation Friday plus it was a half day so I would expect follow through Monday, depending on the information that emerges about the new variant over the weekend. If we do see follow through Monday, keep an eye on the NASDAQ’s 50 DMA at 15,225 which is now clearly in sight. If bulls can’t defend that, that would add a lot of credence to my call from Monday that the top is in – though the Fed remains a wildcard.