Unbelievable how fast this month is going by as we are now at the half-way market and that means only 10 days left until Christmas is here. And in the spirit of Christmas, (yes I know, I am being politically incorrect by saying Christmas and not Happy Holidays, but that is what I celebrate and most of everyone else in the world does too at this time of year), I thought I’d provide you with one of my favorite Christmas movie clips – it comes from the classic “The Christmas Story”…

Now, back to the markets…overnight we saw some some mild weakness creep back into the markets, with European and Asian markets trading slightly in the negative. US Futures are showing similar weakness, with the Dow down 25 points, the Nasdaq down 4.5 points, and the S&P down 2.75 points.

On the economic front, we got the Fed begining their two-day meeting with it concluding by tomorrow with another brilliant statement I’m sure. Also today, we have the ICSC Goldman Store Sales at 7:45am EST, followed by the Producer Price Index (probably the most important report for today) and Empire State Manufacturing Survey at 8:30, Redbook at 8:55, and then the Industrial Production at 9:15.

A lot of reports for sure – but don’t get caught up into what each ones says or try to predict what kind of numbers they are going to be saying – so many people try this and I’ve never found anyone who does it with any level of success. Just follow the trend that is at  hand, stick to your pre-defined stop-losses, take profits where you define it to be appropriate and let the market react as it must to each of these reports in the process.

Here are Today’s Trade Setups…

Bullish Candle Setups: AUY, EXM, RJF, FSYS, STT, TRAD, PNSN, IPHS

Bearish Candle Setups: SYY, DUK, MMP

Stocks Ready to Bounce: CTCT, OIL

Stocks Ready to Pullback: TAM, NRGY, LFL

Breakout Stocks: CHRS, CFR, JNK

Breakdown Stocks: XOM, CIEN, SVA