Before the Open (Dec 27)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you enjoyed your long weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed and except for China dropping almost 2%, there was little movement. Europe is currently down across the board – there are several 1% losers. Futures here in the States point towards a moderate gap down open for the cash market.
I don’t have much to add to my weekend report. The trend is solidly up, but we need to be on our toes. There’s too much complacency. Everyone assumes the market will, at the very least, continue moving up into the new year. I’m not predicting anything, but when so many people are stacked on one side, that’s when surprises happen.
Last week was very slow. I expect things to pick up a little this week but still be slow relative to what is normal…especially with the snow storms which have hit the East coast…traders may be kept at bay.
Many funds will still opt to sit on their hands if they have nice gains for the year. They want to brag to their investors, and they’d rather not risk giving back some of their gains.
I’m long but not too interested in initiating new positions. We gotta play good defense here.
Is this enough rambling? 🙂 More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers