How wild is this market? To paraphrase Bette Davis in All About Eve, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

No kidding. Today, the market slid down on the heels of the bears, then it marched right back up again on the back of the bulls, forming an almost perfect V pattern. Following that, a tug of war between both camps ensued with the volatility ping-ponging in reflection. Floor traders must have been ordering lunch from Maalox.

The trading day ended with no one clearly in charge, although the Nasdaq and the Dow transports (DTX) closing just below major support plus the fact that the Trin (Arms Index) rang in low (but not too contrarianly low) places the football inches over the 50 yard line in favor of ‘da bears. (Yes, I know it’s baseball season but I couldn’t think of a decent metaphor.)

Anyway, the good news is that I closed out yesterday’s shorts for a fairly decent return of over 2%. Sure, two percent a day is nothing to sneeze at but in this market the portfolio could have easily been down that and more on the open.

The feint-hearted needn’t dip their toes into this maelstrom. Higher volatility might be in the prevailing wind for a while. To paraphrase the divine Miss Bette again, “I’m nobody’s fool, least of all the market’s.”

For more info on how this portfolio is generated and how you can generate your own, see the fund rules in the 4/21/10 blog.

This may be completely foolhardy, but I’m initiating a short portfolio today since the market still looks like it has a bit further to fall. The stress here is on the word “short” since if the market looks like it’s going to rebound in the next day or so, I’ll be covering these positions. When it comes to shorting stocks, waiting until the SPX moves back over its 40dma is a losing proposition.

Here are today’s picks selected from the New Lows and Breaking Down lists in today’s *Blue Plate Specials.*

For more info on how this portfolio is generated and how you can generate your own, see the fund rules in the 4/21/10 blog.

Fear gripped the market today spurring a rapid sell-off and a concomitant flight to the safety of precious metals, US dollar, US treasuries, and the Japanese Yen.

There was no shortage of candidates to short and here’s my list culled from the New Yearly Lows list on today’s *Blue Plate Specials*.

For more info on how this portfolio is generated and how you can generate your own, see the fund rules in the 4/21/10 blog.

Since the SPX crossed over its 40 day moving average, the long portfolios were closed out yesterday. Unfortunately, they all closed at a loss. Such is life at market turnovers.

Here are how the four individual portfolios fared. Note that no daily portfolios were initiated for the week of April 26-30.

The overall total return so far is -3.9%.