There are 5 important trading sessions before the last expirations of stock index futures and options next Friday, thereafter trading is going to slow down drastically until the end of the year. Downside momentum is still very negative with more than 2300 stocks declining 2 days on a row on the NYSE and the list of stocks reaching new 52 weeks lows is again expanding. Sentiment indicators are improving but haven’t reached extremes yet. The weekly sentiment survey among active professional portfolio managers is improving but this category of investors hasn’t thrown out the towel yet whereas private investors are pulling money out of the stock market at a record pace, a good sign.