Today's word is: dismal. We gapped down to start the day on worries that Europe really hasn't resolved anything, which they haven't, and we had nothing but the standard bounce in the final hour of trading on European news. This time it was talk from the German Finance Minister that Commerzbank does not plan to take state aid.

The dip-buyers were completely uninterested for most of the day, breadth was weak and volume was pathetic. We even had an earnings warning from INTC to ensure that the mood was particularly gloomy.

The good news is that sentiment is so poor and the market so frustrating that many folks are likely to be underinvested and now well positioned for upside from here. If we can actually gain some traction, it would likely cause quite a bit of scrambling and chasing as folks tried to add some long exposure. We definitely have conditions for a major wall of worry, but few signs that we are going to climb it.

If there is a little more energy, the desire for some end-of-the-year profits is likely to drive things. The key is that we actually ignore Europe, and that seems to be an impossible task lately.