>>>Jake, I'm interested to hear your take on the state of the markets.
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>>We're range bound right now. What's I find interesting is that the markets seem to be pre-pricing events. Instead of reacting to oil news, Greece, earnings etc, the market appears to be anticipating them. For the 2nd time in the DOW recovered 12090 (although it's swinging wildly so who knows what tomorrow will bring), NASDAQ passed the 2600 test, RUT passed the 771 test & S&P passed the 1250 test. All should now be on there way to test 50 & 100 day moving averages. Failing those we'll test the lows again. Breaking above them would make me bullish again. For now I'm sticking with my buys at low levels. Apx DOW 11300.
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>>An old trader who my dad used to work with had an experiment for times like this...a sideways market is like holding your arm straight out...
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>Thanks Jake. Interesting and I also am cautious of the state of the markets at the moment. It all seems too much, too soon. I get your "sideways market" comment as well.
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>It concerns me that the western governments have printed this massive amount of money - where will it all come from? What is your feeling on the dollar?

The dollar is being purposely devalued. The FED is priming the credit pump by ensuring there is a vast amount of liquid cash available so credit doesn't sieze again in the short term while the financials work through their bad loans and the housing market shakes out the excess inventory. In addition they're attempting to kick start US exports as a means of increasing manufacturing. Thirdly, they are trying to pump commodities & the markets to spur investment. The FED is the main buyer of US debt. It's a shell game and the FED is the thimblerigger, government spends on targeted favorites, central bank buys the debt with newly printed money, dollar goes down, commodities & the markets go up and the idea is to encourage the trillions sitting on the sidelines to reinvest.

Like the game, the FED must make it's money and pull up shop before the authorities arrive. The authorities in this case are represented by inflation and they peeking around the corner right now.

This made me chuckle.
Come on, mumble some sphinx-like inanities to reassure us. It worked for your predecessor. “We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting” is not going to cut it. Grab a thesaurus and pull out whatever comes after “temporary factors” and “persistent headwinds.”
http://blogs.forbes.com/billfrezza/2011/06/28/bumbling-bernanke-bamboozled-by-broken-bounce-back/

Update : Did you happen to notice the price of oil today? It took the markets less than a week to recover.