And The Wind Blows

Just another chilly
day in October.

Distribution sessions are adding up at
a rapid clip these days.

Tuesday’s in the Naz was the fourth in
six outings.

In the bells, the big news was Oracle
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, off 12%, and on turnover greater than double average.

As I have said on more than one
occasion recently, Oracle is one of the sacred cows that are most important to
watch from a sentiment standpoint.

Another, Sun
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, scraped a
seven-week low, though volume wasn’t heavy.

No matter. The intermediate trend is
now south for SUNW.

Corning
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, after successfully
bouncing off its 50-day three weeks ago, couldn’t keep it together Tuesday,
slicing the line on robust volume, and being distributed for the third time in
five days.

Other benchmarks like Nortel
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,
JDSU
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, Cisco
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, and Intel
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have been hurting for
quite some time and tell us little about institutional sentiment at the margin.

That leaves us with EMC
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,
which for some time I’ve watched closer than any other marquee tech.

It was distributed for the third time
in six sessions, going out just a bit above its 50-day.

Among the names, the action in Ariba
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was most telling

BEA
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was another blatant
omen.

Brocade
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another.

Add i2
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to the list as it
unwound itself to the tune of 11%, and on thick turnover…it’s now off 24% in
two sessions.

You know the saying: If
the leaders can’t lead….

Gemstar
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was one that held
up fairly well.

As was Human Genome
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.

Handspring
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, one of the
growth sector’s brightest lights during September’s final two weeks, shed 11% on
over double average trade to stand 36% off its absolute high of, gulp, two days
ago.

Interwoven
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, another name
that recently tried to bring the meaning back to the word "glamour,"
shrank 9%, its close measuring 31% off its high of a week ago.

In case you’re ready to throw the
towel in on this game for good, keep this in mind: Strong year-end rallies often
emanate from a weak September-October period.

That said, holding your breath isn’t
good for your health.