Not much to say after Friday's action. Instead, I will take a look at some of the longer term charts. Of these, bears look to have an edge. The relationship between consumer discretionary and staples stocks has been in a slow decline, which in the past has led to big sell offs, but the market has refused to buckle and is trading in a manner much like it did in 2006. If the latter pattern was to repeat it could be another year before sellers regain control.

Holiday trading action continues with little on offer. The Dow followed action of its peers by edging higher (on a closing basis) of July highs. Technicals haven't quite confirmed with both MACD and OBV still in the red.

Getting back into the groove with my vacation behind me. Friday's jobs data gave markets a healthy boost into the weekend past to help reverse profit taking from last week. These gains have held for the early part of this week too, although with end-of-summer still a month away it's hard to see where the next boost will come from.  Having said that, there isn't a reason to short, and taking some profits wouldn't hurt, but there is no clear sell signal either. The S&P successfully navigated 2,100 in July and is building a new support level around 2,070. Technicals are drifting a little, but from a position of strong bullishness. Relative performance is perhaps the only concern, but this is only because Small Caps are in a more bullish state.

Still a week to go before regular service resumes.  However, a quick look of the markets since my last post points to the rude health of more speculative issues while more conservative 'blue chip' stocks glide sideways. Semiconductors have had an excellent summer.  This is a key economic bellwether and points to improved business conditions, helped by cheap copper prices. The burst higher over the early part of last week is consolidating its gains near the large white bar highs. This should also offer a boost to Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 stocks.