The last week of 2005 turned out to be a rough one. As the days dwindled and the Santa Claus/Window Dressing Rally failed to materialize the folks waiting to sell into strength had no choice to bite the bullet, cut their losses and dump positions in a flat to down market.   Even the final attempt to rally with just a few minutes left in the year was swatting down as traders quickly sold the momentum strength and closed their books on 2005.  

One consistent theme this year has been the lack of traditional seasonality. Virtually all expected positive seasonality failed to materialize starting with last January and ending with this week.  A lot of market participants seem to be skeptical of seasonal strength in January this time around so maybe we will get it this time.  

In the bigger scheme of things today’s action is meaningless. This was all about wrapping up the year which means making trades for reasons that have little to do with which way the market may be headed next week or next month. Starting on Tuesday we will be able to forget about end of the year manipulation and focus once again on stock picking. 

I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year. Enjoy the holiday and I’ll see you on Tuesday for the start of a great year.

RevShark