“We’re sitting on the razor’s edge with our knuckles pure white,” wrote Richard Russell in his Dow Theory Letters after Friday’s close.

Well, that definitely sounds uncomfortable. One of Russell’s reasons: His reading of the S&P 500 Index point-and-figure chart.

He explained in chartspeak: “The most recent column of Xs broke out above the preceding X column, turning the chart bullish. But then came a correction — a row of Os that halted at 1,150. A new row of green X’s rose to 1,190. The question now is — will the new row of X’s break out to a new high and confirm the bullish view? To turn bearish, we would need a new column of Os to break below the preceding column of Os, meaning a drop to the 1,145 box.”