The market's at the top of a range here. The earnings reporting period basically ended with Dell and now the market is waiting for a new catalyst. |
The number today struck me as neutral. More stocks are up than down, and that's the ultimate test. |
The oil issue is continuing. It has a huge effect on market sentiment and on consumer spending. |
The perception is that maybe things are getting better. I mean, how much more can these guys take? We've bombed the hell out of [Iraq], and we have them surrounded. |
The reports after the bell looked pretty good, including Texas Instruments, and that should probably help the techs tomorrow. |
The silver lining on this is that it confirms that the Federal Reserve will not be raising interest rates anytime soon, which is good news for the market. |
The statement wasn't that negative, but it was a bit clumsily worded. They reminded people of the dangers. |
The stocks that are benefiting most from better earnings are the small and mid-cap ones. |
The tone (of the market) is definitely better than it's been in a while, and it feels like we could go a bit higher. |
The wording of the statement will be important, and then you've also got Cisco and Dell reporting next week. |
There are a lot of positives -- Intel said some good things; Greenspan is saying that oil prices are a wild card, which we knew already, but that inflation is under control. But we're mixed, bouncing around today (Wednesday). You've got big names coming out in the next day and you need some of these giants to say tech is improving. |
There seems to be a little bit of shifting into some of the beaten-down cyclical stocks. They are rallying off of oversold conditions. |
There's a lot of earnings for next week, but I don't see what's going to give us a lift. If the earnings have been good so far, and stocks have fallen anyway, what could the next wave of earnings do for us, even if they are positive? |
There's a lot of skepticism among professionals that too many people are trying to jump in -- so it could be a sign of the top. |
There's an internal conflict as Bush tries to satisfy two different constituencies. The public finds reassurance in government taking a harsher stance, but big business is a little conflicted in that it traditionally doesn't want government putting too many regulations on it. |