Strong Into The Close

The markets have been able to maintaing their bid (remain strong) all day, and have even strengthened a bit. Historically, when the markets are strong all session, they usually close at their highs. (I hope I don't jinx them)

The mortgage insurers are spiking on the news that Berkshire Hathaway may provide some capital for bond insurers. This would really help.

AAPL is up nearly +10% on news that the company is in talks with China Mobile (CHL) to bring the iPhone to China.

Goldmans (GS) is up +8% on the reiteration that they will not be taking an additional write-down. This is helping the broker/dealer index lead today, +4.8% so far.

And the oil service stocks are starting to bounce, even though oil has been down as much as $4 today.

Another big positive is that the CBOE put/call ratio is still really high today at 1.15. This could be due to the fact that options expiration is Friday, and traders are rushing to take profits on their puts. But this could also help boost the markets into the close.

long AAPL, GS