The last full trading week of 2019 slowly draws to a close and, with the holidays looming, people take stock and ponder the year that now lies behind them. To be honest it’s been a pretty rough patch for me personally as one health issue seemed to be chasing the next. And let’s not even talk about the political and social slow motion train wreck that’s been unfolding on both sides of the Atlantic.

Winter has become one of my favorite seasons here in Valencia. Although the stream of tourists prowling our streets never really ceases completely things eventually start to quiet down near the winter solstice as most travelers return to their Northern shores in preparation for celebrating Christmas with their families. For us traders however week #51 marks one of the busiest earning periods of the year as the historical odds usually are in our favor. But of course not always!

Holiday weeks have a tendency to juice equity markets with extra volatility and Thanksgiving week apparently is no exception, at least judging by the statistics. And the one chart that stands out this morning is that of the weekly SKEW on the S&P500:

Yesterday’s session was rather intriguing in that my early suspicions of distribution near ATHs in equities were proven correct. How so? Look no further than our trusted Zero indicator which continues to provide us important guidance since 2008 and counting.