Wow! Nice last hour of trading in the market today!

The market did exactly what I thought it might do today, but I didn't see the last hour melt-up coming.

I thought it might gap down on the open, which it did. And then I thought it might go straight up the rest of the day, which it did.

But I was quite pleasantly surprised to see the last hour of trading go for the rocketship ride.

At the end of the day, the Dow popped almost 165 points, and the Nas almost 30.

And great charts are out there today by the score. Homebuilders are still strong, and even some of the big Blue Chip stocks like WMT, CPB and GM (due to a possible government bailout) are showing buy signals. The Airline stocks were solid as well.

Once this market turns around in full force, there are now tons of bargains on the table. I'm seeing lots of possibilities in former leading stocks that have been severely beaten down lately, and the bouncebacks could be huge. (Hint: Watch JOYG).

Well, Dr. Jekyll did show up in the market today, but Mr. Hyde reared his ugly head late in the day...

Yesterday I called the stock market a "Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde" market.

That's because of the totally schizoid market... up huge one day, down huge the next, etc.

And today it seemed that Dr. Jekyll was back in charge. The Dow and the Nas both took off on the open, and looked really good most of the day, until Mr. Hyde showed up in the last hour or so of trading.

The DJIA was up triple digits at one point, but did the "Mr. Hyde" fade, ending up only 38 points and change. The Nas did somewhat better percentage-wise, closing in the green almost 19 points.

There are a handful of great-looking charts, mainly in the leading Medical and Biotech areas. And the beaten-to-a-pulp energy and other commodity stocks showed some life today. We'll keep an eye on those for potential huge rebounds.

Another rotten day in Denmark - I mean... the stock market!

Well, so much for the huge move in the DJIA yesterday.

It was totally wiped out today.

Yes, in the continuing saga of the "Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde" stock market, Mr. Hyde was on a rampage in the market today.

Both the Dow and the Nas teased a little in the first hour of trading, and were both actually in the green for awhile. But both indexes turned south in a hurry, on news that Lehman Brothers was in big time trouble, and showing little chance of staying solvent without huge inflows of cash. LEH collapsed almost 45% for the day.

No joy in Mudville today. Unless you had a ton of put options on LEH, of course.

And you always know the market is in trouble when you're seeing scores of great charts... but they are all of one or another of the ProShares UltraShort ETFs. That was definitely the situation today.

Other than the UltraShort ETFs, I have a grand total of ten charts that are even halfway interesting on my list tonight. That's out of the entire stock market.

What a difference a day makes...

Last night, I jotted down the symbols of great-looking charts, and they covered an entire sheet of paper. Not tonight.

So with this totally schizoid market, maybe Dr. Jekyll will return tomorrow, and we'll have a 350-point up-move in the Dow.

With this market, anything is possible on any given day.

Well, I thought today would be big - either up or down - and I was right, kind of...

With the news of the government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hitting the newswires over the weekend, and the two stocks down huge after hours, I actually feared for the worst in the stock market today.

Fortunately, the news was taken as bullish.

The DJIA soared over 290 points, or almost 2.6%. The Nasdaq was much more subdued, and was actually in the red during the day. But it managed to eke out a 13.88 point gain by the close.

With the market so positive, it's always a chore to pick out the "best" charts of the day, since there are so many good ones. Obviously, financial stocks were the stars of the day, with just about every bank stock up in value. The homebuilders were especially strong as well.

And I'm going to name a small bank stock as a great RSVP setup tonight. The stock was up over 13% today on decent volume. It's very close to a Baffle Play as well. I'll talk about the stock below.

Friday was not so bad, but next week could be wild...

We're still searching for a market bottom here.

The candlestick and technical patterns - especially on the Dow - would seem to indicate an obvious bottom. The DJIA index chart shows an almost perfect double bottom, with a Hammer signal retest of July's 11,000 low on Friday. Stochastics are back in the oversold area, and hinting at forming the "V"-shaped reversal and crossover from vantage point.

But recent economic and other news may throw a monkey wrench into that scenario, starting Monday morning on the open.

For starters, the Treasury Department is expected to announce a plan to bail out and recapitalize collapsing home mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in one of the biggest government rescues in U.S. history.

And adding to that glum scenario, the jobless rate was reported as 6.1%, the highest in 5 years, as payrolls declined. This suggests the economic slowdown is gathering steam.

If all that was not enough, the hotly-contested presidential race is expected to add even more volatility to the market.

So hang on! It could be a wild ride next week.

But as always, there are ways to gather profits from just about any market. I have many "eyes and ears" looking out for me and my subscribers now, and... quite frankly... we are not missing many of the big movers in the market, each and every day.

Here's one now for my paying members. It's a Tech stock formerly trading at $40 that's down at 2 bucks and change. It was up over 22% Friday, and could have a long way back up.

There Will Be Blood (and there was in the market today)...

So much for a nice market bottom here.

There was indeed bloodshed in the market today, with the Dow collapsing almost 345 points and the Nasdaq almost 75. Most of the major indexes were all down about the same - 3%.

The reason? Fears of a global economic slowdown evidently, as rising jobless claims data, mixed retail sales and weaker oil prices fueled concerns about slowing growth, both at home and abroad.

And when the markets weaken for whatever reason, it's not a good time.

Just recently when oil and other commodities were soaring, fears of runaway inflation were rampant, keeping the market from making a big move. And now that those same commodities are coming back down to earth, fears of a massive economic slowdown are tanking the market.

Oh well. This too shall pass.

And, as always, even in this market carnage there were a handful of big gains to be bagged.

I mentioned one of the stocks here yesterday - TGIC. That stock was up yet another 50% today after being up MUCH more than that intraday.

But you have to be very nimble in this market.

This could be a market bottom here...

With both the charts of the Dow and the Nasdaq showing Hammers today, we could be looking at a nice market bottom here.

Today still showed some evidence of the same "tricky" market we've been in for some time. Especially in the area of great-looking base breakouts getting spanked right back down into the base, or worse.

Today's casualty in that regard was CCC. Not pretty. And for no reason that I could see.

What sectors were especially interesting today?

Well, our small stocks in the Surety & Title Insurance group were popping all over the place today. Check out TGIC (one of my still-active picks), up a sweet 26% for the day after being up over 44% intraday. Small Banks did well again too. And certain Biotechs, like IDIX and VVUS, were none too shabby as well.

With a nice green candle on the index charts tomorrow, it may be BUTT (Back Up The Truck and buy) time again!

Wow! Today was one of the weirdest days in the market I've seen lately...

It started out exactly as I thought it would.

The market took off like a scalded dog from the get-go, and the uber-bullish scenario I had envisioned as the "Big Boy" traders returned to their trading desks, ready to buy lots of stocks after a 1 or 2-week late summer vacation seemed to be unfolding. The Dow was up 250 points at one time today, the daily candle was enormous, and all seemed well.

It didn't last.

In fact, the DJIA gave all of that back and then some. That index ended in the red almost 27 points, while the Nasdaq tanked even worse percentage-wise, at 18.28 points.

Energy prices plunged due to another relatively "non-event" hurricane, so you would think that fact alone would have skyrocketed the market. And maybe it did on the open, but the selloff has just about everyone scratching their heads.

Lots of Bank stocks popped today, and there are a handful of other good-looking charts. But as we say in Texas, it could have been a "whole lot better."

OK, now let's see if the market gets exciting here! (And maybe even forms a strong upward trend)...

First of all, I hope everybody had a great Labor Day weekend! My wife Barbi and I headed down to the beach for some late-summer sun, rest and relaxation. It was a short, but nice, little respite. And thank goodness for that aloe vera sauve!

This is the time of the year when the stock market can get very exciting. That's because we are now done with the "Summer Doldrums", the Big Boy traders will return to their trading desks from The Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard, and we should get rid of the "Summer Chop" we've seen in the market for quite some time.

And I'm going to maintain my bias towards the bullish side.

Recent events have helped, in my opinion.

First of all, it looks like Hurricane Gustav may turn out to be another Eduardo, i.e., a non-event. Thank goodness. That should have lots of people breathing huge sighs of relief, and in good moods.

Second, I believe John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for his V.P. will reignite enthusiasm for the Republican party. With the party's low-tax, pro-business platform, I feel that's bullish for the economy and therefore the stock market.

Finally, most U.S. election-year stock markets have been bullish going into (and shortly after) the election. With the conventions now in full gear, the awareness of the election will be heightened, along with (I think) the bullishness of the market.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, for now. We'll soon know for sure if I'm correct.