Stocks Lower into Final Hour, Weighed Down by Tech and Commodity Shares

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is lower into the final hour on losses in my Semi longs, Software longs and Medical longs. I have not traded today, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The overall tone of the market is mildly negative today as the advance/decline line is slightly lower, sector performance is mixed and volume is heavy. Investor anxiety is above average. Today’s overall market action is bearish. Many market leading tech and cyclical shares, with the largest gains last year, remain under pressure today, substantially underperforming the broad market. Many true growth stocks are rapidly approaching very attractive entry points on the long side for investors, in my opinion. Economic pessimism is extraordinarily high given recent data. Many pundits that have proclaimed for years that the US faced an imminent recession are now saying that the economy is already in one and that it will be a very bad one. I suspect that if the US economy were to head into recession in the future these same pundits would then start calling for a depression. In the current "US negativity bubble" it seems their dire forecasts are so easily believed. I continue to see little evidence of an outright recession in the data even as this is currently being priced into stocks at current levels. On the positive side, the TED spread is falling another 13 basis points today to 131 basis points. This is down 109 basis points from August highs and down 92 basis points from highs hit three weeks ago. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-lower into the close from current levels on more shorting and rising economic pessimism.