Before the Open (Mar 1)

Good morning. Happy Tuesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. India gained more than 3%; Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan rallied more than 1%. Europe is currently mostly up; there are no standout winners or losers. Futures here in the States point towards a small gap up open for the cash market.
Yesterday was the third day out of the last four the market trended down early and then trended up during the afternoon session. I’m not going to read too much into it other than to note if a top is indeed in place, the bulls are not going to go down without a fight.
Bernanke speaks to a House of Representatives committee today.
Things have certainly calmed down since last Tuesday’s sell-off. The S&P lost about 50 points off its high, and as of today’s open, about 35 of those will have been recovered. I’m also sensing traders aren’t too worried about Libya or protests spreading elsewhere in the region. Whether they should be worried is another story. The overall trend remains up, but given how the market has reacted to Egypt and Libya, we need to be on our toes. News trumps the charts, and given the odds for a surprise event overseas, I don’t think this is a time to go all in. Be selective and manage your positions well.
There’s been a fair amount of press regarding the market’s tendency to move up the first day of the month, so most players are expecting an up day today. Here’s the 60-min SPX chart. Charts don’t get much better than this.

headlines at Yahoo Finance
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings Reports
this week’s Economic Numbers