Monday Morning Musings

I am having connectivity issues this morning, which is always fun, let alone on a Monday. Ugh.

The market is only slightly weaker in early trading. Banks and housing stocks are the weakest, while biotechs are bucking the trend and higher to start the day. Ag stocks are up, but most energy stocks are lower. Oil was higher before the open, but has since faded again. Talk about trading heavy--

In earnings news, BHP Billiton (BHP) reported record profits and issued an upbeat outlook, but the stocks is only up slightly. Lowe's (LOW) also beat earnings expectations, but offered a mixed outlook. Its stocks is higher so far.

Mitsubishi Financial Group raised its bid for UnionBanCal (UB) to $73.50 after its bid for $63 last week was rejected.

The dollar is slightly weaker this morning; the 10-year yield is lower at 3.83%; The ARMS Index is high at 1.40.

Technically speaking, the Nasdaq is now trading above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, a step in the right direction. The S&P 500 is hovering above its 50-day, just barely, but still a ways below its downsloping 200-day. This indicates that the senior index is far from being out of the woods. I actually used last week's market strength to take some profits and raise additional cash, fwiw.

After my tech guy comes out and straightens out my system, I'll try to post an update on investor sentiment indicators.