Before the Open (Feb 27)

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly up. Australia, China, India, Indonesia and New Zealand did the best. Japan dropped 1.3%. Europe is currently mostly up. France and Greece are doing well; otherwise gains are small. Futures here in the States point towards a flat open for the cash market.

The dollar is down. Oil is up, copper down. Gold and silver are down.
Bernanke finishes his semi-annual testimony on monetary policy at 10 AM ET.
In the very near term the market’s direction is very unclear. Last week two big down days were followed a short-lived relief bounce. Another big down day was followed by a bounce yesterday. Generally speaking volume has been heavier on down days than up days, and unless the market is going to continue completely ignoring many technical indicators, odds favor a move down from the current level, not a move up. But on a day to day basis, anything goes.
The move off last week’s high was news-induced, but a lot of damage has been done to charts of individual stocks. I see very little worth trading – this is an indicator by itself. Trading is not hard when you commit to taking the easy and obvious trades, the trades that jump out at you. But if you have to look at 1000 charts to barely find a couple set ups, it’s best to lay low because you don’t have support from the rest of the market.
No position is a position. If you’re not comfortable with the current environment, there’s no shame in laying low. Whether it’s because of the current market conditions or your style being out of sync with the market, in a given 12-month period, you may only trade 9-10 months. This is normal. Make money when the conditions are conducive to your trading style, and play it safe when they aren’t. More after the open.
headlines at Yahoo Finance
headlines at MarketWatch
today’s upgrades/downgrades
this week’s Earnings
this week’s Economic Numbers