S&P...kinda not looking so great

Well, after some volatility around the 100day moving average and what looked like what was going to be an extension higher with the help of strength in the DAX, the S&P kinda caved in the past 2 days and is now back to its 50day moving average. This volatility is likely chopping around short term traders, but the underlying strength, or lack thereof, remains weak.

Many big name stocks such as IBM MSFT CSCO etc are below their respective 200day moving averages. Definitely not the kinda stuff that sustainable rallies and bull markets are made of. And today small caps, as represented by IWM, also closed below its 200day moving average just as its 50day is getting close to crossing below the 200day. This is not setting up to be a fairytale ending.

So for the bigger picture, the chart below is a daily of the SPY and clearly shows a close below the bear flag that has been forming since the June lows. I was going to put this out yesterday, but after falling outside the channel during the day, SPY closed back in the channel and I didnt want to send any false warning signs before it was necessary. BUT NOW IT IS NECESSARY! Unless AAPL, which reports today, can save the day, I suspect things are going to get much worse before they get better.

A similar channel occurred this spring and you can see what happened as price closed below the channel and below the 50day ma...it wasnt pretty. I suspect something similar will happen this time. Unless of course either AAPL or The Bernake can save the day...and soon!