The Up-Down Parade

Morning News of Note:

• DELL AMD: Size of AMD's Dell hook-up set to shock THE HALLS OF COMPUTEX have fallen silent, but information gathered around Taipei is that AMD will be a big winner come autumn. We have seen some documents that shed new light onto the whole AMD-Dell deal. (Full Story) Inquirer
• TIE: Titanium Supplier Reaches High Altitude, Thanks to Aerospace Market While a new class of superjumbo jets prepares for takeoff, Titanium Metals (TIE) is already soaring to new heights. Timet, as Titanium Metals is known, has bet on titanium as the aerospace metal of the future. (Full Story) IBD
• CVH XOM RD COP: 3 Oil Firms May Alter Gulf Leases Facing angry lawmakers from both political parties, executives from three major oil companies — Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips — indicated on Wednesday that they might be willing to give up sizable taxpayer subsidies for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. But one of the most active players in the gulf, the Kerr-McGee Corporation, showed no signs of compromise and told a House hearing that it was entitled to the subsidies — known as royalty relief — even if oil prices remained above $70 a barrel. (Full Story) NY Times
• ADBE GOOG: Adobe-ADBE announces multi-year distribution agreement with GOOG. ADBE announced Wednesday the signing of a multi-year agreement with Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG) to distribute the Google Toolbar with various Adobe products over the life of the deal. As a part of the agreement, Adobe and Google today will launch availability of the Google Toolbar with downloads of Adobe's Macromedia Shockwave Player. The Google Toolbar will now be offered as part of the Shockwave Player installation process for Internet Explorer on Windows. Under the terms of the agreement, the Google Toolbar will also be offered as part of other Adobe product installations in the future
• Mad Money Summary: Cramer opened his show last night evaluating the market's rally. Specifically, he recommended his viewers trade Research in Motion (RIMM), which has a new Blackberry model out. The model is currently offered by Cingular, but will also be offered by Verizon (VZ) this summer. When that happens, it is time to sell RIMM's stock. Then Cramer recommended three medical equipment companies, Viasys Healthcare (VAS), Vital Signs (VITL) and Sirona Dental (SIRO), which he believes are takeover targets. In the "Lightning Round," Cramer was bullish on Helmerich & Payne (HP), Openwave Systems (OPWV), Agilent Technologies (A), Bank of America (BAC), Talisman Energy (TLM), Rite Aid (RAD), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Qualcomm (QCOM), Microchip Technology (MCHP), Circuit City (CC), Chevron (CVX), Texas Instruments (TXN), Hilton Hotels (HLT), Frontline (FRO), KB Home (KBH) and Trinity (TRN), and was bearish on Eagle Materials (EXP), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Ford Motor (F), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Toll Brothers (TOL), Silicon Image (SIMG), Morgans Hotel (MHGC), Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP) and American Railcar (ARII).

Market Comments: My colleague Doug Kass at Street Insight is fond of saying the market has no memory from day to day. That is certainly true this morning, as the strenght yesterday has faded into weakness so far this morning.

There has certainly been a lot of volatility in the market lately, with big swings in both directions and lots of volume. I tend to think this is characteristic of major turning points in the market. An extreme example would be March 2000, when the market experiences huge volatility at a time when it was in the process of topping. I think the opposite could be taking place right now.

The 10-year yield is up near yearly highs this morning, at 5.19%. This is likely weighing on equities. Also, the dollar is having a very strong session. While this may be bullish longer-term, in the short-run it weighs on commodities, which we know translates into broader weakness. Go figure.

The bears are downplaying yesterday's rally, which is how you should want it if you are bullish. The longer that skepticism remains high, the more the market can work higher without the majority shifting to the bullish side of the ledger.

long GOOG