10 Ways I Handle an Ugly Market (Including the Great Sacrifice)
Here’s my strategy for days like this, including how I make a shopping list, buy and take profits.
Stocks Tumble as Yields Surge
A jump in yields to fresh multi-year highs cascaded through markets Wednesday.
Covering More Index Shorts
With S&P cash -68 handles, I am covering more indices (moving from small to very small):
* $SPY $766.87
* $QQQ $738.48
I plan to reshort strength.
Position: Short SPY (VS), QQQ (VS)
Things I Did Today
Here are today’s things:
* I covered a lot of my Index shorts:
$SPY at $769.38
$QQQ at $739.9
* I added to my $GRNY short at $28.45.
* I reinitiated a $GLD long at $392.63.
Position: Long GLD (S); Short SPY (S), QQQ (S), GRNY (L)
Going Small on Indexes
With S&P cash -51 handles I have covered some of my shorts from late Monday and yesterday:
* $SPY $768.41
* $QQQ $738.36
This moves me from medium-sized to small-sized the indexes.
Positions: Short SPY S QQQ S
Tech And Small Caps Lead Tuesday
A sixth day of gains for semiconductors drives the Nasdaq-100 to its first record since June while a fifth day of losses for crude boosted small caps
Indices Churn On Mix of Good and Bad Action
Financials broke down on the flat yield curve while biotech caught the speculative bid.
Amid a Lack of Market Leadership, I’m Eyeing These 2 Stocks
I’m adding to this oil play and biopharma stock as market sees some strange and broad-but-shallow action Tuesday.
Early Morning Trading
More shorting of the indices:
* $SPY $774.08
* $QQQ $742.38
Position: Short SPY (M), QQQ (M)
In Case You Missed It: Deteriorating Breadth
For those that celebrated the Jewish holiday I wanted to repost two columns from Monday.
The first column is on the deteriorating breadth, updated for yesterday’s performance:
Not Broadening
* As previously noted (repeatedly by myself and The Divine Ms M), the market is narrowing — with the Russell not crowing and the equal weighted S&P Index (RSP) rolling over
* Given the narrowing and the valuation model discussion in my upcoming opener, I am planning to expand my short book on the recent rally and strength in the indices
* It feels like deja vu all over again…
Here was Friday’s report card:
$SPY +0.30%
$QQQ +0.81%
$IWM -0.48%
$RSP -0.40%
Though S&P futures rose by 21 handles and Nasdaq futures increased by +238 handles on Friday, market breadth continues to have a foul odor as seen by these tweets delivered by Jason Goepfert:
Shades of the Dot-Com Era
And the correlation between tech stocks and the rest of the market is the lowest in 22 years:
It feels like deja vu all over again.
Position: Short SPY (S), QQQ (S)
BY Doug Kass · Sep 21, 2026, 7:05 AM EDT
Position: Short SPY (S/M), QQQ (S/M)