Very Weak Start (Was Someone Liquidated?), Decent Finish

Although the DJIA finished in the red, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had fairly small gains and it was a good day for the bulls. We opened surprisingly weak as overseas markets dealt with a number of major economic issues. The dip buyers jumped in on the gap down and kept things moving to the upside for most of the day. Talk about the stimulus package helped in midafternoon and of course we had a little extra volatility in the final hour.

Gold was the big mover today as the dollar reversed down but oil and commodity-related stocks also benefited. Breadth continues to be on the weak side but almost all the major sectors were in the green.

Technically we are still holding support, which provides some optimism for a bit more of a bounce but there is not much energy and no leadership. However, I am encouraged by Kass on Real Money predicting a 5% to 10% bounce. We are lucky if we have a handful of stocks hitting new highs. Financials remain problematic especially GE and there are obviously a lot of issues in the United Kingdom that can cause some drama.

Many are complaining how much work this market has been. Trying to grind out some gains is extremely tough and it is wearing on a lot of folks. Please. Go try working in a mine if you want to really define "work." Sorry about that. Back to the subject at hand - It isn't that they are losing money, but they just aren't getting much upside traction and the time frames are so short that it's a lot of extra work. That is the way it goes sometimes.