(selling stock before they own them in an attempt to buy them back at a lower price later) at a high rate in an attempt to make money as stocks go down.  These small, less sophisticated traders are usually wrong at market tops and bottoms.  Odd lot short sales recorded a new all-time record on Friday.  Friday’s record was 25% higher than the previous record set on February 22nd. Thursday, Friday and Monday  were three of the top five all-time odd lot short sale readings.

You know that I am bullish for now.  I believe we should see a decent bounce.  The only thing I will be watching for now is that the market doesn't quickly get overbought before we get much of a rally as we saw early last week.  It wouldn't be horrible if the market just chopped around here.  That will just refuel the overbought/oversold conditions, but it is important that we don't make another new low. 

The dollar appears to be rolling over again.  It fell to support yesterday so if it can't rally from here, we may see it fall further making the I fund may be a good play.  I can't seem to get the rhythm of the dollar down so I have been staying in the C and S funds.  It's up to you and your tolerance for risk.  The I fund has done well but it can be quite volatile.  You can see below there is reason to believe that the dollar may move down to that lower support line IF it can't hold the current trend line and 50-day moving average (purple line)...

 

"Random musings: People tend to angrily fire off emails to me about how much they have lost in the market. Others ask why I am not more scared to be long stocks in this horrid environment. Still others worry whether there's just much too much risk in equities. To which I say, "No kidding." I've heard it all before, typically at market bottoms. Get used to it, or get out of it. I still think that even after all the things that have happened in these last five years, people misunderstand the risks of equities. Equities always have been dangerous, always have represented a risky asset class. It bothers me tremendously that people only seem to find out about these risks after the downturn. Perhaps it is because of the TV ads or firms that tell you it's so easy -- or maybe it's the president saying, totally mistakenly, that anybody can manage his own life savings. Jeesh, is that false. Much better if we told everyone the real deal: You can lose your shirt in stocks if you are not careful, or even if you are careful, depending upon the market. The bottom line is that stocks aren't for everybody. Stocks are risky. Stocks can destroy you. But with some discipline and some homework, that is not likely. Doesn't mean you will make money all the time. Does mean you will come out ahead in the long term, if only because every statistic bears that out. You just need to be in for the long term. If blaming me keeps you in, fire away. I can take it."
                                                                        James J. Cramer, www.realmoney.com - 4/19/05.