Crusty,
The sentiment you have has got to be held by many shareholders in many companies right now.
As much as there was a lot of margin calls, filling of short positions and hedge fund activity that helped this market sink like a stone, there must also be a dampening factor for the run up, IMHO. How many people are poised to sell as soon as there is a bit of an up-tick? Using ISM as an example, if someone bought ISM at 50 cents today, they might be very happy to get out at 60 cents and make a 20% profit next week. Or, how many people bought it at 80 cents when it looked liked it had bottomed, and would only be too happy to sell it when it gets back there again? That kind of selling/profit-taking is going to slow down the bounce back IMHO.
Look at LBE for instance. It has been selling in the 12 to 13 cent range this week and last. But before that it could be had for 5 or 6 cents. How many potential buyers are sitting on the sidelines hoping it will drop back down to 5 or 6 again so they can buy low? That has to dampen the bit of a surge the SP has shown in the last couple of weeks.
I think this is true of many other stocks, including Teck, the Banks, and many others.
I guess my point is that while we wait for this market and the economy to turn around, even when it does I think there is going to be quite a bit of slush we will have to drive through before we get moving on bare pavement again.
All IMHO.
Cheers,
Bluenoser
