Before the Open (Sep 17)

Good morning. Happy Monday. Hope you had a nice weekend.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mixed. China dropped 2.1%; Japan ralled 1.8%. Europe is currently down across the board, but there are no standout losers. Futures here in the States point towards a down open for the cash market.

The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down.
All the market’s major news has been released…a speech by Bernanke, an ECB meeting and press conference, a ruling by the German constitution court, the latest unemployment numbers and an FOMC meeting and statement.
The sum of all this induced buying on top of what was already a relatively strong market. Right now all the indexes sit at or near new highs, so once again those negative fools who keep thinking the system is going to implode and the world is going to come to an end have lost again. I don’t necessarily agree with everything governments around the world are doing, but I’m not foolish enough to fight an obvious trend.
Right now I’m looking for a blow-off top. Several indicators spiked last week, so we have to keep an open mind and remind ourselves we are traders, not buy and holders. It’s easy to get euphoic when the market is galloping higher and all your positions are making you money. But that’s exactly the time you have to scale back your expectations and take a few bucks off the table.
I’m mostly in a defensive frame of mind right now. That means I’m more interested in keeping the profits I have than entering new positions. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers