Complete Thursday Game Plan 10/31/13

Markets declined in higher trade Wednesday with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 falling .5%. The Nasdaq recorded an outside day and both indexes managed to close slightly off the afternoon lows near 1% after the Fed announcement. In order for the rally to continue and strengthen in my opinion we need more participation from the financials. The XLF is having problems breaking through the 21 handle. Asset managers are behaving well as a subsector, but when I look around the group I see names like JPM UBS DB among others fighting litigation. MS needs to ask the Fed for permission to increase a buyback. Maybe Icahn can petition the Fed as aggressively as he has the board of AAPL. In all seriousness this group seems to have so many headwinds in its face, do not forget the relentless media bashing, that it is noteworthy that they have hung in the way they have. Other sectors that have seen former leaders getting hit on this tape on a more regular basis include energy. Look at the charts of FTI CAM GPOR to get a feel for the weakness. More tech firms are getting battered as well. LNKD was unhinged today losing almost 10% after reporting. It fell below its 50 day SMA in early October, and managed to recapture it on 10/18, but the volume was feeble. Former software firm TNGO has been harpooned lower by more than 20% in the last 4 days alone. One by one the generals are getting taken out back. This is far from healthy action for the benchmarks.