Good Morning, Traders. Fed day came and went with its usual afternoon craziness. Another quarter point rate hike was entered on the books at FOMC headquarters and the markets did their usual gyrations at 2:15pm. As always the whole thing came down to one key sentence. This time around it was: "The committee judges that some further policy firming may yet be needed to address inflation risks but emphasizes that the extent and timing of any such firming will depend importantly on the evolution of the economic outlook as implied by incoming information."  Whatever. All the ensuing madness resulted in little change in the broad market averages with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq stacked up the same way they have been lately more often than not with the Nasdaq losing ground, the S&P flat and the Dow eking out a small gain. Does the Dow ever have red days? I think not. Contributing to the weakness in the Nasdaq on Wednesday was a 2.5% decline in semiconductors ($SOX). With a possible head and shoulders top forming, the $SOX looks poised for a breakdown to the 480 area. This would be a further blow to the already troubled Nasdaq Composite. I maintain that the Dow still needs to test that all time high area (which is now only 107 [one good day] points away) before the market makes a definitive reversal move. Remember that the Nasdaq generally leads so these cracks in the veneer of the tech index could spell much needed correction down the line.

Peter Reznicek is the Chief Equity Strategist and a principal of the Prana Fund, a domestic hedge fund, and ShadowTrader, a subsidiary of thinkorswim which provides coaching and education to its clients on both intraday and swing trading of equities. For a free trial to the full version of The Big Picture or to learn about ShadowTrader's other services, visit shadowtrader.net or send an email to preznicek@shadowtrader.net.