Market meltdown? Look out below ...

The S&P 500 index today undercut its last major downside test of 11-20-08, 747.78 intraday, by today hitting 742.37 and closing at 743.33. (The intraday low on 11-21-08 was 741.02, but the market rallied that day to close at 800.) ... Market action looks droopy this time (bad), not the kind of panic sell-off culminating in the 11-21-08 rally. Several sectors earlier last week confirmed a breakdown: EFA, VAW, VDC and IDU. (Blooger note: I raised cash last week, selling VDC and EFA among others.) The Dow Jones industrial average, filled with losers like Citi and GM, also earlier confirmed new lows, but this antiquated index is of little value (see a story from CNBC on this today. The DJIA is an old, established measure, and is routinely pimped by the WSJ, owned by Dow Jones, which owns and profits from the DJIA index.) ... A rally henceforth should be judged for quality (we need up volume, major price moves and leadership from some sectors.) Otherwise, it's likely to be a rally to sell into.