Technical Analysis:

• A dour way to end 2016 on a 3-day losing streak for the S&P 500 (SPX).  
• The last three times, the month of January has finished lower. It has yet to do so four straight months. But as we have seen plenty of times before, the market has no problem doing something for the first time. 
• The “January Effect” which many believe is a baraometer on how the rest of the year will fair, has been right only once in the last three years. Consider the fact that 5 of the last 8 years January has performed opposite of the total returns for its given year. 
• Volume on SPDRs S&P 500 (SPY) on Friday held strong with a surprising, above average performance and well above recent averages – more than double the day prior. 
• SPX broke the 20-day moving average and is now trading in the lower half of the daily bands. 
• Look for rising support on SPX coming off of the August highs, as depicted in the chart below. 
• CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) is spiked for a fifth straight day and by another 5%, to close just above 14. 
• Light Sweet Crude Oil Futures (/CL) is looking for a strong start to the year, by gapping up more than 2% higher and continuing the end of year rally from 2016. 
• Nasdaq and tech as a whole continues to feel the brunt of the recent sell off. 
• Many of the very bullish sectors and industries that surged following the Trump election, have been the ones exhibiting the most weakness of late (i.e. banks, industrials, etc).
• The market is looking at a gap higher to start the new year, which would represent Day 4 of what is historically know as the Santa Rally period. 

My Trades:

• Starting the new new year with a 30% long exposure and 10% short exposure. The rest is is cash. 
• I added one new position to the portfolio on Friday. 
• I closed out positions in AVGO and IP on Friday. 
• I will look to add 1-2 new swing-trades to the portfolio today. 

Chart for SPX: