Four Must-See Charts of the Day: Small-Caps to Watch

Monday, many traders were surprised to see the markets finish (just slightly) higher, especially when you consider the explosion of layoffs among some of America's biggest blue-chip companies.

The market can often be a confusing place, driven by forces that don't seem to be logically moving the price of financial instruments.

It's probably true that some investors deemed the layoffs to be bullish news because companies will save money as they enact more cost cutting measures. However, from a fundamental perspective, the layoffs were widespread across different sectors, which points towards more problems ahead for the global economy.

Playing the market is not an easy task for any investor. One way that market players can cut through the noise on Wall Street is to simply examine the charts for hints to the behavior of those who truly control the price of stocks -- institutional investors. ...