Tradersaudio's Ben Lichtenstein Sees Potential for Another Volatile Week in Equities

Brace for more volatility this week, says Tradersaudio.com president and and S&P pit squawker Ben Lichtenstein from the floor of the CBOT. "There is a major struggle at these price levels, that's for sure." Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke basically held off on any new policy pronouncements in his Jackson Hole speech last Friday, sending eyes toward the next FOMC meeting on September 20 for a glimpse of what the Fed might do. We asked Ben Lichtenstein on Benzinga Radio this morning what effect that was having on trading. Here's what he had to say:

"It gets us into a real technical focus right now. I'm focused on a couple of key levels--this 1250 level to the upside, and then depending on how you look at it, 1050--while that is kind of a wide range trade, I think that's probably what we are going to experience between now and then. There is an enormous amount of uncertainty out there still, and I think that there is some resolve and a little bit of confidence that we aren't going to see situations develop the same way we did in 2008, but certainly there is concern out there for recession right now."

Several key economic indicators this week could help to bolster that view. Ben's thoughts on how things will play out this week on the floor:

"I think that there is going to be a little bit more position building in the next couple days--next couple weeks, in fact. The activity that we've been seeing--this recent activity off those extreme lows that we had seen--there is still a lot of energy left in this move. When you have expectations for stimulus activity that doesn't come through, and then the market needs to revisit some of its expectations and traders are revisiting some of their price models, that takes a while to dissipate, and that energy takes a little while to come out of the market. It's not a one or two-day event. "We've seen a bit of a reversal in some rejection off some lower extreme levels, and so now I really feel like there is some position building coming into this, which will continue to keep some of this volatility present in the market that we've been seeing."

We asked Ben how traders were reacting to some of the news out of the European banking sector this weekend, between new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde's comments on refinancing and the announcement of the EFG Eurobank-Alpha Bank SA merger out of Greece. His thoughts:

"In general, the mood down here is that we've yet to really see the dust settle. I think there is still an enormous amount of uncertainty associated with the eurozone in addition to our own domestic economy. I think that a lot of traders feel like we have yet to see the worst of that situation develop. As we get these blips on the radar that seem to inspire a little bit of confidence or a little reassurance that we are seeing resolution, I don't think that's the case. "The general consensus that I've had from traders is that the situation in Europe has yet to fully play out, if you will."

We think the same can be said about quite a lot, these days. find us on Twitter @matthewboesler, @lukelavanway, @BenzingaRadio, @Benzinga