After the drubbing the market has taken in recent months, participants are more than a bit mindful of the fact that they could be burned again, and badly. They want to buy, but they're scared. Perhaps they'll nibble, but at the first signs of weakness, they're likely to pull back. Wishy-washy sentiment translates as back and forth churning activity and no clear trend. If the market rallies, it's likely to pull back just as quickly.
Any progress is likely to be choppy.
But it wouldn't take much to spook investors enough to force another leg down. In short, the market is uncertain and we should be sitting on our hands waiting for a clearer picture to develop. That doesn't change our long-term strategy of course. There are still many many more reasons to believe that we have NOT seen a bottom than to speculate that we have. To that end, we should continue to sit on our shorts and stay put on our puts.