This Doesn't Make Sense

"The average Wall Street [Strategist] forecast calls for the S&P 500 to break out of a bear market and surge 20 percent to 1,118 by Dec. 31 -- more than twice as much as the biggest-ever advance to close out a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

Hmmm. A lot of these estimates are probably stale. Big picture guys - strategists, economists - are reluctant to change their published forecasts too often, so are apt to sit on their hands in times of pronounced short-term volatility. If I were a strategist in print calling, at least implicitly, for a 20% rally in the next 7 weeks, I would be looking for a quiet spot to make another estimate cut. This could create a steady headwind into the close of the year.

Lots of Positives

<----That (crude oil futures) is very good for equities of the non-energy variety.

Whether those in office are doing the right thing or not, the housing bill is doing wonders for the financials as the prospect of the mortgage market freeing up becomes more real.

Qualcomm reaches the holy land in its deal (finally) with Nokia. Amazon is executing.

It looks like the XM/Sirius deal is going to be approved. It will be nice to stop talking about it and let them suffer and raise more money as a team.