When Will The Market Move On Its Own Accord?

It is not uncommon for well-known investors to move small or large issues up or down. Over the last few days investors have reacted positively and negatively to the 13F disclosures from large funds to changes in their portfolio. Perhaps no reaction was greater than the Street's reaction that Warren Buffett has taken a $1B stake in shares of Apple Inc.

. After ending Friday's session at $90.52, it leaped on Monday to close at $93.88. There has been follow through to $94.70 in Tuesday's session before reversing course. The reaction in issues are not only to long side. For example, when Andrew Left of Citron Research announces a new short stake in an issue, look out below. Even though the immediate reaction may not sustainable in the long-run, there is almost always violent short-term reaction to the downside. Along with moving individual issues, a few investors can move the entire market. On April 28,, Carl Icahn sent the market into a tailspin with his "day of reckoning" comment, when he announced he had sold his remaining shares in Apple. Although Buffett's intention was not to move the entire market, the disclosure of his stake in Apple, the S&P 500 indexes top component, could not help but boost the entire market, However, these two market moves have no comparison to the "Jamie Dimon low". As the market was staring in the abyss and attempting to breach a major long-term support level (1800), Dimon saved the market. The announcement of his $25M purchase of shares in his own company

after the close February 11, not only instigated a monster rally in JP Morgan, but lit a fire under the broad market that has not been extinguished. Now with two major bulls (Dimon and Buffett) and one major bear (Icahn), who is 150 net short the market, who should investors put their faith in? Add to the mix, a schizophrenic earnings season, with a slew a big misses and big beats along with a confused a Fed, slowing economies in China and Europe and a Presidential election that is up for grabs the proper path to choose is extremely difficult to determine. Therefore, when the fundamentals are so garbled and the markets react violently to influential investors statements and disclosures,one alternative is to examine the technicals of the S&P 500 index. And that portrays a clear picture. The index is a long-term trading range. The bottom of the range is clearly defined and goes back to May 2014, when the index bottomed at the 1800 level. That support level has been tested in October 2014 (Ebola Crisis), stopped shy of that level in August and when right to it in January and February. The top of the trading range is not far from where the index is trading right now. Although the index made an all time high in May (2134.72), longer-term players have been focusing on the 2100 area as an exit point and have been rewarded on several occasions. In fact, the index hit 2111.05 last month and retreated as 2033 before its most recent rebound. Since trading ranges can persist for years, investors should be respect these all important levels and adjust their portfolios to comply with their long and short-term investing objectives.