Again.....

The only piece of "economic news" was the Dallas Fed index which came in at 4.5, down from 21.6. Considering that Texas is thought of as one of the strongest parts of our economy, well, you figure out what it means. Hint - the word starts with an "R".

The Dollar was hit hard overnight but has recovered its losses back during the day. Perhaps it is stabilizing - for now. But more likely what this happens to be is a corrective move, just like the last one. It may retrace all the way up to or even into the 79s before heading south again - and that time it is very likely to break all-time lows. Will that attract buyers? Or sellers? Hmmmm.... (BTW a move over 78.8 starts to put into play the possibility that this has bottomed in the short term, but doesn't change the intermediate view....)

There was a large burst of buying mid-morning in all the indices, without any apparent news to drive it. "Buy the dips" is alive and well. What does it mean? Perhaps not much, but it bears watching. The homebuilders are all in the ditch (again) today, with Lennar, reporting tomorrow, leading the charge lower (although not by much - Centex is plunging as well.) Unfortunately for the buyers it didn't hold and that was that - down she went from there. Hope you didn't get suckered! I said I expected a red day today on Friday, and we got one. Not hugely so, but does it have to be huge to count? I think not!

SPF announced a very odd convertable offering that looks a hell of a lot like a "Hail Mary" pass, and Moody's downgraded them to "Junk" (better late than never!) I smell a bankruptcy in the offing there. Heh, are bankruptcies in the homebuilding sector good for the stock market? Hmmmm.....

The UAW struck GM, then their "chief" came out and played "whine and bitch, oh poor me" on national TV. I say **** 'em all. GM ought to declare Chapter 11 and walk off on all of their Pension obligations. That's the way I'd be doing it if I was General Motors. It would be good for the company long-term, albiet ****ing over all the shareholders (awwwwww.)

In the "no ****" department we have this:

"Americans may be disappointed that the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut won't translate into lower monthly mortgage payments and a revival of the housing market.

.....

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rose 0.10 of a percentage point to 6.08 percent today, according to North Palm Beach, Florida-based Bankrate.com's survey of banks and lenders in the 50 U.S. states. It peaked this year at 6.42 percent on June 14, Bankrate.com said."

I hate it when I'm right. "Rate cuts will make interest rates go down" eh?

Horse**** - they went up.

So much for that line of crap. Heh Bernanke - you're a total IDIOT. The only rates that went down are the exploding option ARM ones - you know, the reason we have this problem? And you'd like to encourage people to buy more hand grenades eh? Let me guess - you'll do 'em the favor of holding the pin for 'em, just like Greenspan did?

What a total *******!

Of course tomorrow we get existing home sales and these figures aren't cooked by "contracts signed" shenanigans - they are actual closings. And Lennar is going to report tomorrow...... anyone care to guess how bad their report will be? I bet both suck big hairy ballsacks.

Here's your technical for the day - synopsis is that we're in "neutral territory" with a bearish bias, as the Transports appear to be foretelling a building downward impulse. We'll see!