This Market Reminds Me of a Story

Many, many, years ago, and in a pre-9/11 lifetime, I found myself on the American Airlines Shuttle from New York to Washington D.C.. Due to the very short amount of time the shuttle flight is actually in the air, we were flying at a low altitude on a windy, rainy day. The pilot looked young, and the plane got bumped around more than any other flight I had been on before or after that day. 

Even with the amount of veteran, frequent flying business warriors on the flight, I could sense some anxious energy begin to set in as the turbulence not only failed to abate, but only became more intense and the plane became prone to sudden drops before lifting back up. 

At one point, a man in a charcoal gray suit looked up from his newspaper, probably seeing triple by now and holding the paper upside-down, and exhorted at the top of his lungs, "Oh for Chrissakes, just crash the damn plane already!"

Needless to say, in a post-9/11 world that would been a whole other headache unto itself. 

In the current market, the stimulus/election/earnings season/inflation vs. deflation/prior steep rally-now-what uncertainty all lead to the current choppy action we are seeing. Neither side has been able to gain much ground of late, although bulls are clearly arguing this is setting up the next inevitable leg higher. 

We know some of the arguments for both sides as far as stock action this week: FB PINS SNAP TWTR among others for bulls, while INTC and now TSLA breaking down for bears. Next week's should see another loaded lineup of earnings with tons of market cap, to boot.

But I still think at this point that even bulls would find a better tape to trade if we get a sharp dip on the indices here instead of freaking out and rushing in to defend every bout of turbulence in the form of these intraday whipsaws.