Strong Out Of The Gate

Morning News of Note:

• Fund Investing: Heard on the Street... 'Portable Alpha' Investment Strategy: A Better Mousetrap or Overly Risky? The hottest investment strategy on Wall Street sounds more like something someone would take on a trip to the moon than a place to stash retirement funds. It is called portable alpha, and endowments and pension funds are throwing billions at it. (Full Story) WSJ
• GOOG: Google launches "Google Checkout" service. Google (GOOG) has launched its "Google Checkout" service today that claims users will not have to create multiple accounts and passwords, protects users against fraud claiming "Our fraud protection policy covers you against unauthorized purchases made through Google Checkout, and we don't share your purchase history or full credit card number with sellers" and Google claims it will control commercial spam by keeping a users email address confidential and allow users to turn off unwanted emails from stores where Google Checkout is used. The new service can be found here (https://checkout.google.com).
• GS: Goldman Sachs-GS may buy stake in India's commodity exchange-Bloomberg. Citing people close to the matter, Bloomberg is reporting that GS plans to buy a stake in India's National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. to gain from a surge in trading in Asia's second-fastest growing major economy. Goldman will buy the stake from ICICI Bank Ltd., India's second-largest lender
• STN: Station Casinos-STN to buyback up to an additional $600M in stock
• VZ VOD: Verizon-VZ to prorate early termination fees for new wireless customers-Dow Jones. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon (VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) will begin prorating early termination fees on new wireless contracts in the fall, saying flat fees are "tarnishing the entire industry," Dow Jones reported Wednesday. The wireless communications service provider, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group PLC (VOD), will progressively reduce the fee for cancelling their contract before its term expires, Dow Jones reported

Market Comments: Are you surprised by the early strength? I am. I expected it to be the 'hurry up and wait' type of open; the kind that is suspended in animation until after the FOMC announcement.

I am usually not a fan of strong opens, but in this case I think maybe it could give us some cushion for the post-FOMC volatility. A positive close today would be a big plus.

So far, the action is great. I mentioned the other day that the negative outside reversal would need to be quickly reversed, and that is exactly what is happening today. The SPX has advanced above the high from Tuesday morning, and has also broken above its 20-day average, which has been acting as resistance.

The strength is widespread. Tech is up across the board, and the strongest sectors include energy, brokers and financials. Nice mix. Let's hope the FOMC statement has the right mix of hawkishness and prudence to keep the rally going.

long GOOG, GS