Sure they were

February U.S. retail sales ex autos rose 0.7%. Right. January was also revised up. Maybe they only surveyed Walmart.

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Mea Culpa

I forgot that I wrote the following Tuesday morning at 5:54, just ahead of a 6% rally. Even I don't read me.

"The futures are up nicely (yawn) and oil is flattish. There continues to be smart money around calling for a rally. I'll know it when I see it."

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If you've been waiting for a chance to sell Ebay, you might as well do it today. The stock is trading up a couple of percent coming out of yesterday's analyst meeting where the company gave super rosy projections for 2011. Alrighty then.

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GE's debt is no longer AAA. It may be that the U.S. government's debt is no longer AAA.