February 2008 Archives

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.

This morning's PPI data has put inflation worries front & center again. So it looks like it's going to be tough to follow-through on yesterday's rally.

Google's been showing poor relative strength for about the last week. I've been wondering if *somebody* knew some bad news. Then some disappointing ComScore data came out late yesterday. Coincidence??? I'll be watching GOOG and BIDU closely today...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Consumer Confidence

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

For the second session in a row we got a rally based on "news" related to bond insurers. The gains were enough to push the S&P 500 through the top of its triangle but not enough to get it above the February highs. Clearing that peak is a must in order for the bulls to establish a pattern of higher-highs. The 1,400 area already had a lot of congestion (resistance) and now it's also got the 50-day moving average -- currently at 1,395 -- piling on.

Today's move had less impact on the Nasdaq chart. It's still within last week's range.

Well the rumored bond insurer deal from late Friday hasn't happened (yet?). That makes me wonder if the market will give back those late Friday gains and sink back down to Friday's lows.

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- Existing Home Sales

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Skittish. Confused. Insane. One or maybe all of those words describes the current market environment. For days now we've had mini-rallies sparked by some seemingly good news which have been met hours later with selling based on seemingly horrible news. That cycle repeated again on Friday when, at about 3:30, CNBC sparked a furious rally by reporting on another proposed bond insurer bailout plan. That rally saved the indices from breaking down beneath their tight trading ranges. My guess is that if the bailout turns out to be real the market will rally for about an hour before reversing yet again.

Disappointing earnings from DELL and AIG (among others) are weighing on the market this morning. The question in my mind once again is 'will this follow-through?' Given the last few weeks I'm very skeptical but I guess one of these times the trading range will break -- if for no other reason than everybody's been lulled to sleep and expecting more range-bound trading.

On Today's Calendar:

• 9:45 -- Chicago PMI
• 9:45 -- Mich Sentiment-Rev.

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

I just can't work under these conditions! The intraday choppiness got even worse today. The market gapped down then had two cycles of mini-rallies & mini-selloffs. So it was just a microcosm of what's been taking place in the daily charts for the last month. So it's just more consolidation as the market waits for some catalyst to push it out of its several week long trading range.

No Changes

On Today's Calendar:

• nothing

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

It was a choppy day which was helped along by the wacky moves in Freddie & Fannie. On the same day that they announced huge losses the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) decided to lift the portfolio cap restrictions they put on Freddie & Fannie in 2004 in response to their accounting irregularities. So now that they're accounting properly they've been rewarded for telling us stuff like this:

Government-sponsored home loan giant Fannie Mae announced a quarterly loss today that, even in the currently ugly world of mortgage lending, should make some eyes pop.

It lost $3.55 billion. Again, that's in a quarter. That's more than $39 million a day, more or less. That's about $1.625 million an hour, $27,091 per minute and more than $451 a second, very roughly rounded.

Is it any wonder that the dollar's trading at all-time lows? Ah, fun times... Here's what Fannie Mae's stock (FNM) did today:

My comments on the indices are basically the same as yesterday. Here are the charts:

Bernanke is speaking before Congress today & tomorrow. I doubt that he'll have anything earth-shattering to say but I'm sure the market will be on edge...

On Today's Calendar:

• 10:00 -- New Home Sales
• 10:30 -- Crude Inventories

More Calendars: U.S. Earnings | Conf. Calls | Surprises | IPO | Economic

Potential swing trades:

Good news from IBM mid-day sparked a turn-around in the market. While the reversal was impressive it didn't do much to improve the overall technical pictures for the indices. The S&P is inching closer to its 50-day moving average and resistance near 1,400 on slightly below average volume.

The Naz almost escaped its triangle today but it fell back right at 3:00.