The Stock Market Searches For Life And Direction

The stock market surged higher out of the gate today. Yesterday, Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy had a press conference where they ripped southern Europe and said straighten up or get out of the Eurozone. This initially shocked the market into selling yesterday. However, the markets showed amazing resiliency and bounced back off the lunch time lows. This bounce back was something not seen in the markets for weeks and a bullish signal short term. Sure enough, the markets continued their party today with solid gains in the first hour of trading. While the markets are positive, they pulled back sharply off the highs of the day. This pull back from the highs is coinciding with a strong move up in the Dollar. The stock market moves inverse to the U.S. Dollar. As the Dollar has gained strength, the markets have pulled back. Dell Inc. DELL reported financial results yesterday after the market closed. These numbers were not received well by analysts, missing expectations. The stock is sharply lower today, trading at $14.38, -1.42 (-8.99%). This drop in Dell is taking its toll on other large old school technology stocks like Hewlett-Packard Company HPQ. The strong plays of the day are the banks and key oil leading stocks. Chevron Corporation CVX is trading at $98.49, +1.13 (+1.16%) while JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM is trading at $36.82, +0.79 (+2.19%). The key to a continued bounce in the markets is a flat or positive day. Should the markets end the day sharply lower, it would be likely more downside would follow. Volume has slowed which is a positive. This means the panic has subsided for now. Gareth Soloway InTheMoneyStocks