Mike Doran

The current stock-market correction is still very questionable, and there's a higher risk to being heavily invested in stocks right now. Trading remains more random than not, and driven essentially by the news headlines of the day. For now, protection of capital is key.

The sell-off today and last Tuesday deserves close attention. We believe for a number of reasons that we are at a "Stop Look and Listen" point in the market. What I mean by this is that we are at a higher probability point where the market will begin to pull back.

It was a bit of a roller-coaster trade in the stock market last Thursday, but when it was all said and done, the stock market resolved its affairs in much the same way it did in the first quarter. That is, it saw the downswing as a buying opportunity and ended the session on an upswing.

The catalyst for yesterday's broad-based rally was the better-than-expected Q3 GDP report. The report itself looked good at first glance, but if you take away some of the cosmetics--namely government stimulus---the seemingly beautiful GDP report looked a little less appealing.

Things are not always what they seem: the 2009 Chicago Cubs, most blind dates, The English Patient, and the stock market rally since mid-July.

With the market trading on very light volume it has been like watch paint dry the last few days. Despite some encouraging economic data, stocks had a listless session and made another lackluster finish.

Market Profile does not provide buy/sell recommendations, but organizes data in a more readily understandable format in order to illustrate what is perceived as fair value. After you become familiar with the data, you can identify price targets for shorter term moves.

This session's decline has the stock market facing a week-to-date loss of roughly 1.4%. If the downbeat tone holds, this week will mark the first weekly decline for the S&P 500 in the last five weeks.

Stocks finished higher after a tug-of-war session Tuesday. The NYSE composite climbed 0.8%, the S&P 500 0.5%, the Nasdaq 0.4%, and the Dow 0.3%.

Recently, interest rates started rising, oil prices have been going higher, and a battle is developing between those expecting a large amount of inflation and those that don’t.

The Factory Orders Report is meant to show the overall health of the entire manufacturing sector, as it pertains to new orders, inventories, total shipments, and unfilled orders.

May marks the 3rd straight monthly rise for the Dow, which had the best 3-month percentage gain since 1998.

Even though this is now the beginning of the slow summertime period, I continue to think the bottom is in.

It is important to watch distribution days on the Major Indexes, and the general price and volume action to help determine the more immediate health of the market.

The major averages continued their upward trajectory this past week, rallying ahead of and after the release of the bank stress test results and a better than expected employment report.

Using historical charts as a guide for future price direction can be a good way of understanding where we may be headed next.

The major indices ended the week mixed following volatile trading that was dominated by earnings reports and news regarding the government's "stress-test" on financial institutions.

A quick look at what we can expect from the week ahead.