Before the Open (Nov 13)

Good morning. Happy Friday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed with no standout winners or losers. Europe is currently trading the same.
Futures here in the States suggest a small gap up open for the cash market.
So far it’s been a decent week. Entering, the trend was up, but there weren’t many good set ups to be had. Now after 4 more days of trading, the SPX has registered a higher high and the Nas has caught up some. But the small caps still lag big time. As I’ve written recently, I’m wondering if the large cap indexes can continue to move up despite the lagging small caps. The large caps have an easier time making money by tapping cheap labor pools overseas and benefiting from a favorable exchange rate. Maybe the large cap indexes can continue to do well while the small caps lag?
The dollar is back in play. It’s no surprise it had a nice day yesterday while the market dropped. Here’s the chart.

Since the coast remains somewhat unclear – lots of pushing and pulling and conflicting movement – it’s a stock picker’s market. Lots of research will be done this weekend to find a handful of good set ups for next week.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers