U.S. markets slipped further into the red on Thursday as taper fears grew after a series of positive economic reports. The economy seems to be strengthening while technical indicators indicate potential trouble ahead. 

The SP500 closed down -0.38% and the Nasdaq shed 0.14% along with the Dow which dropped 104 points, 0.66%.  The Russell 2000 bucked the trend with a gain of 0.16%. 

Weekly jobless claims rose above expectations while November retail sales rose 0.7%, beating last month's reading and meeting expectations.  

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose, indicating that Americans are feeling better about their own economic outlook, even though unemployment remains stubbornly high.

Oil declined in London but one of our ETF Master Positions, iPath Crude Oil ETN (OIL) managed to hold onto recent gains with a slight 0.09% bump higher.  Gold (GLD) fell hard with the ETF dropping 2.13%. 

Stocks were down hard in Asia and also fell in Europe as Eurozone industrial production fell 1.1% in October, widely missing expectations. 

On a technical basis, many sectors and major indexes are now challenging their respective exponential 50 day moving averages, which, if broken, would indicate the likelihood of still lower prices ahead.  

Wall Street Sector Selector remains in "red flag" mode and continues to position for potential benefits from a declining market.