Trading in No Man's Land

Welcome to no man's land. It's a place where bulls and bears battle for every advantage, no matter how small. Tuesday, June 25th, 2013     Trading in No Man's Land   Bull traps, bear traps, and everything in between. Time to sell the rips? Plus: Shaking out gold's demons   Greg Guenthner coming to you from Baltimore, MD... Greg Guenthner Welcome to no man's land. It's a place where bulls and bears battle for every advantage, no matter how small. Every market hiccup is poked, prodded, and diagnosed. When you're trying to navigate through the stock market during these periods of uncertainty, you have to deal with bull traps, bear traps, and everything in between. You must prepare for changing conditions. Markets can move quickly and violently. Those who are unable or unwilling to act become road kill. Remember when it felt that no amount of bad news can sink stocks for more than an hour or two? That was only one month ago. This week, fear reigns supreme. The orderly uptrend we enjoyed earlier this year is gone. There's no use in hopefully staring at every uptick. The path of least resistance is no longer "higher". That's why it's time to alter your mindset. The market has told you to switch gears. If you fight it, you'll only lose sleep and sanity. We are no longer in a "buy-the-dips" environment. We'll eventually see some individual names begin to swim upstream, breaking from the downside market action. But remember that a strong majority of stocks on the market have dropped this week. That makes for very slim pickings on the long side. Every single stock that is moving lower should be approached with caution and skepticism. You'll have a chance to buy eventually. Now's just not the time to go after every single potential comeback play that flashes across your screen. Stay nimble this week. If the market says run, you should run like hell. If you do decide to buy something, agree on the terms of the trade before you pull the trigger. Sell for a small loss without reservation if you have to. Live to fight another day…     Rude Numbers Targets, Predictions and Wild Guesses   1,575 is where you'll find S&P futures this morning, helping to continue recover some of yesterday's losses. $1,281 is where you'll find gold this morning—still hanging on just below $1,300. $1.8 billion is what it cost Tenet Healthcare to acquire Vanguard health Systems. The $21 per share offer highlights further consolidation in the for-profit hospital business. $100 million the estimated value of the upcoming Neiman Marcus IPO. The retail giant generated revenues of $4.5 billion from big ticket, designer brands last year. $402 is where Apple shares settled yesterday afternoon following a 2.7% drop. Apple has not closed below $400 since April…     Rude Trends When to Buy... When to Sell   "The market is not ready for collapse just yet but rallies are to be sold," writes a reader. OK,now you're talking my language. Continue, please… "It is time to raise cash for building a gold position. Gold is close to a bottom with about 200 points to the downside and 4000 to the upside. Mark it down – the uptrend in stocks is broken and gold is near a bottom." Well, that took an unexpected turn. I admire your tenacity. But I think you're a bit ahead of yourself. Why not wait for gold to actually show signs of bottoming before buying a large position? The idea that it will go up "eventually" is not a strong enough reason for buying right now. If you really do believe gold has 4,000 points left in upside action, you don't have to worry about missing out on a big chunk of the move higher if you don't bottom-tick the price. Give gold a chance to shake out its demons and prove itself. It'll save you some grief. In the meantime, I've been helping PRO readers play the precious metals market for potential gains as high as 30% in just a few days. Click here to find out how we did it… [Ed. Note: Send your feedback here: rude@agorafinancial.com - and follow me on Twitter: @GregGuenthner]     Ignore At Your Own Peril Today's Must Read Links   2013: The Year China Shot Gold to the Moon Truly "IRS-Proof" Income. Is "Big Oil" Scared of This Breakthrough?     BE SURE TO ADD dr@dailyreckoning.com to your address book.       Additional Articles & Commentary:         To end The Daily Reckoning's Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from The Daily Reckoning and The Rude Awakening, click here to unsubscribe. Please Note: If you unsubscribe from The Rude Awakening, you will also be unsubscribed from The Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning's Rude Awakening is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to Agora Financial delivering daily email issues and advertisements. Please read our Privacy Statement. For any further comments or concerns please email us at dr@dailyreckoning.com. If you are you having trouble receiving your Rude Awakening subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by whitelisting the Daily Reckoning's Rude Awakening. © 2013 Agora Financial, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. A lthough our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security they personally recommend to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation.Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.