Two new KIVA loans made possible by KIVA borrower repayments. The first goes to a group of women in Guatemala (I think this is the first time I have seen a group loan effort): The clients of the ComUnity (the term used by Friendship Bridge for their communal banks) Chikuwa have an astute and patient attitude, a combination that helps them to be the great business women that they currently are. The clients of ComUnity Chikuwa are models of micro-entrepreneurial women. Several members of the group started selling huipiles (traditional Guatamalan dresses) and shoes in the streets of San Juan la Laguna, Sololá. However, with their current loan many of them have become successful business owners. For example, Susan Ujpán now has ten artisans working for her during the high season such as Christmas. Clara Perez is a micro-entrepreneur who began with a small business raising animals and who is now buying 100 chickens per month in order to fatten them and resell them 21 days later. Cecilia Uj

Bears stamped on the post-holiday feel-good rally taking the indices not only to last Wednesday's lows, but in some cases beyond it (I am looking at the Dow and S&P here). The index to watch for today is the Russell 2000. It finished as close to support as it could without breaking it. Another down day like Monday's and only a 'bear trap' would save it - i.e. Wednesday (tomorrow) would have to be a massive rally. A confirmed double top in the Russell 2000 would likely signal the same for Large caps - and eventually Tech indices too The semiconductors tell their own sad story; in July they were challenging 550, now they are struggling to hold 400 - a 27% fall is bad is anyone's books, but I am surprised this hasn't influenced the Nasdaq, or Nasdaq 100 more. A developing bullish divergence in the supporting CCI gives the best hope for value buyers: Tuesday will be interesting. Fallond

An incredible (further) sell off on Wednesday has been followed with a modest pullback on this shorterned trading day. The biggest story of the week are the internals - something you will have no doubt seen mentioned on other blogs. Here is my take. The Nasdaq Bullish Percent Index is only a couple of points away from entering bear market oversold territory, but is at a bottom for a bull market: The percentage of Nasdaq stocks above the 50-day MAs is also lingering close to bear market territory, and like the bullish percents, is at a level which generated the August bounce. Note the developing bullish divergence in Ultimate Oscillator, a good sign for a bottom here. The Nasdaq Summation Index is perhaps the only internal which still has some downside room to indicate a strong bottom, but an uptick here would not preclude a decent rally: Today's action will be interesting for those few traders who decide to take a dip in the pool, as things look nicely set for a big gap up on Mond

Broadband delayed until next Tuesday when Eircom issued for a modem to be mailed, but had no modem to mail. Grrr....

The indices took another big knock with the Russell 2000 the index to watch for today: The Nasdaq has at least the 200-day MA to look too But large caps look to be using the Russell play book - bye bye last week's lows: And we won't mention the semiconductors: Fallond

Bulls made a better stab at it to close the week out. Options expiration clouded the volume issue, so whether it was an actual accumulation day for the indices will probably depend on what happens on Monday. Thanksgiving will suppress trading volumes - so the issue of whether there is support will probably resolve itself the following week. Tech averages were able to find some ground at the 200-day MA, although large caps finished the week below this important moving average. On better news, small caps are finding some footing in what looked like a void of support around 760-770. It's technicals are oversold and in a good position to build some upside. Semiconductors look ready to bounce as the endless selling starts to tire - which will help the Tech averages. Fallond

Nich Noc