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A few bears started off the last week by dumping buckets of ice water on their heads and then nominating three of their friends to do the same. By Wednesday, the short squeeze was in full-effect as the bear community jammed up social media with homemade videos of self-flagellation. As I pen this on the following Monday morning, S&P futures are up 11 points and the bears sit shivering and dejected with massive ice cream headaches.  To think, this rally started a day after I wrote about a potential inflection point in the market (link needed here). A point in which the direction of the market could have changed for the foreseeable future. And for the astrology fans out there, this inflection point also coincided with the "supermoon", the coincidence of a full moon with the closest approach the moon makes to earth in its elliptical orbit. It appears that the bears saw these signals and bet heavily that this is where the market rally finally reverses in their favor.  What the bears forgot, however, is that the Gods of August rarely allow moves of significance within their domain. This is simply because the masters of the universe- the seasoned veterans who have earned their summer vacations- are currently sipping Armand de Brignac on wood-paneled vessels drifting about in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas. If you are a sell-side analyst warning clients about the potential move lower in the market, the only orders flooding your inbox start with "Out of office: I am currently..."  All this begs the age-old philosophical question: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If the market sells off and everyone is on vacation, does it constitute a reliable sell signal? While the bears saw this recent 4% drop as an actionable signal, it appears that the vacationers decided to wait and see what happens upon their return in September. And the lack of downside follow-through at the inflection point meant it was time to parade out the ice buckets.  | 
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