On This Day; April 11, 1997

This has got to be one of the most painless bear markets. Just when everyone had about given up on the bulls, then comes the most marauding of all bears. Not many would have thought that we would be revisiting the 1997 highs 12 years later. The DJIA closed today at May 7, 1997 levels.

Trading volume was on the mid high, still short of last year's super selling levels. I didn't get a chance to monitor the closing volumes but this new low has caught everyone with their pants down. Even the perma-bears are lost for words.

I've read in the press that the valuations are still high owing to on-going demand destruction and consensus for the forward estimates still need to be revised downwards.

Most of the technical indicators don't seem to be in line with the current market performance which makes it even more puzzling. All I can say is that the trading rules are being re-written as the old rules have ceased to be of any significance.