AHEAD OF the open, (23-12)

Today’s action had all the earmarks of window dressing/ Santa mode on thin liquidity (lowest vol.in Dec.) into mth/year end and it wasn’t really surprising coming on the heels of yesterday’s positives..a)”…the euphoria of LTRO died off…but the market didn’t sell off…b) closed above 20ma/50ma, c)..even as Euro Sov’ yields went up”.

The logjam of resistance points is in the 1260-1267.

If the small caps/R2K outperformed today or outperform shortly, those levels should be revisited, if not broken to the upside from a symmetrical triangle pattern.  Judging by the financials here and overseas, ( LTRO sentiment was better than yesterday), the sector could provide an added spark and trigger a move higher. *S&P resolution seems to be holding off due to thin year end market liquidity.

Most notable news today was the Initial claims number continuing to improve for a second straight week. It’s a leading indicator, signalling economic improvement in December on top of what was already solid data in the previous month.

As far as tech action post ORCL disappointment, softies still showed signs of dusting themselves off(despite TIBX up 9%), but the early week networking trade off AT&T picked up again (ie. JNPR).

Merry Christmas to all!