Jim - I also see a tight time with the Dow and the general direction being generally down. I have some cash on the side right now after taking profit on a trade a few weeks back and do not see getting back into the targeted trade till things come down some. I have been thinking that the DOW could be down 5-600 points or more in a hurry if Santa does not come to town.
Read an article just before the DOW passed 10K that the DOW would not see 10K for years. That was way wrong. But as I said earlier if there is no Santa Rally this year we could see a bit of a slide over the next three weeks.
The wildcard here is what the consumer is doing with Christmas. Buying was anticipated to be generally down across all Christmas Sectors. I say Christmas Sectors meaning, Clothes, Candy, Toys, and Jewlers. But these areas of the ecolomy appear to ge a fraction above last years sales rates not down at all. If this holds and the consumer is able to keep spending some, we may see the Dow go a bit higher still.
However, that will also fail at some point and retract some. I think I am asking the same question you are, where will the next good entry point be, and should I Sell some things now because they will go lower with the DOW in the following weeks.
I am not one to guess the market and have been wrong too many times I probably should not venture a guess. So I work individual stocks and small parts of sectors and pray.
Good question though. Apologize for the ramble of a answer.
Livin...