Monday Morning Musings

The markets are lower in early trading, despite strong gains in Asia overnight and some minor news of more deals this morning.

Friday after the close, Biogen (BIIB) said management is exploring a possible sale. This has the stock up more than +20% this morning. And Danaher (DHR) said it is buying Tektronic (TEK) for $2.8 billion, a +33% premium to Friday's close.

The culprit for today's weakness is likely oil, which is surging to $85. That's quite a price, and while the energy stocks are mostly higher, the rest of the market is fading. One of the rumors cited for the spike in crude prices are the tensions between Turkey and Norther Iraq.

Asian markets were up strongly overnight, with more record highs. Bond yields are up a bit in the U.S., on some stronger economic data (NY Empire Index), with the 10-year yield at 4.69%.

I raised some more cash on Friday, as I think the market has gotten overbought and sentiment has become a bit complacent. Given the sizeable bounce we have seen from the August lows, it makes some sense that the market needs to consolidate some of its gains in the short-term.